Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
The Alys Look moves to Chris Davis’s barn
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Alys Look, third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5, was transferred to trainer Chris Davis earlier this month and will have her first start for his stable in Saturday’s Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita.
Davis said on Sunday that The Alys Look was part of a group of eight horses recently sent to him by owners Ike and Dawn Thrash of Hattiesburg, Miss. The horses were previously trained by Brad Cox.
The Alys Look was beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Pretty Mischievous in the Kentucky Oaks at odds of 30-1, closing from sixth in a field of 14.
The Alys Look has won 2 of 7 starts and earned $304,278. Earlier this year, The Alys Look won the Silverbulletday Stakes at a mile and 70 yards at Fair Grounds on Jan. 21, and was third in the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 25.
“Her form speaks for itself,” Davis said on Sunday from his base in Kentucky. “She seems like she does everything really nice.”
Davis said that Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has been booked to ride The Alys Look in the $200,000 Summertime Oaks, which is run at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies.
Davis, 34, has a 30-horse stable and formerly worked for trainers Mike Stidham and Phil D’Amato before launching his own stable in 2016.
The Thrashes and Davis have been acquainted for several years, since Davis was an assistant to Stidham. At the time, the Thrashes raced the graded stakes winners Her Emmynency and Istanford.
Ike Thrash said on Monday that his family’s previous relationship with Davis “had a lot to do” with the transfer of the horses from Cox.
“We knew him from before,” he said. “Brad, for a good reason, is the leading trainer in the country. He has so many horses. It was amicable.”
The Summertime Oaks field is expected to include the stakes winners And Tell Me Nolies and Lily Poo, the stakes-placed Window Shopping, and the allowance winners Anywho and Doinitthehardway.
And Tell Me Nolies was 12th of 14 in the Kentucky Oaks, but second in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks in April.
Last year, And Tell Me Nolies won consecutive stakes in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs and Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita before finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.
Smith named on Skinner
Mike Smith has been booked to ride Skinner in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds on June 4, trainer John Shirreffs said on Sunday.
Skinner, third by a halflength in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8, was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby the day before the May 6 race because of a reported elevated temperature.
Owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable, Skinner has since had three workouts, including five furlongs in 1:02.20 on Sunday. Shirreffs timed Skinner’s final furlong in 11.40 seconds.
“He looked like he has for the last three or four works,” Shirreffs said.
A closer, Skinner was also third to Practical Move in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 4. The $100,000 Affirmed Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles.
The Affirmed Stakes field is expected to include Geaux Rocket Ride, who was second in the San Felipe but missed the Santa Anita Derby because of illness, and Mr Fisk, who was sixth in the San Felipe Stakes in his stakes debut.
Practical Move, withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby because of illness, is currently in Kentucky and close to a return to trainer Tim Yakteen’s stable at Santa Anita.
Yakteen said on Sunday that Practical Move could return to racing by the end of July. Races such as the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 22 and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 29 are “very much a possibility,” Yakteen said.
Johannes, a two-time stakes winner on turf at Santa Anita earlier this year for Yakteen, has been turned out for a springtime rest after finishing fifth in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 6.