Irish Mias and Meru both won their first stakes on Saturday and gave Sky Mesa a pair of new 2-year-old black-type winners with victories in the $200,000 Laurel Futurity and the $75,000 Smoke Glacken S. at Monmouth Park, respectively.
Irish Mias, actually a maiden with two seconds to his credit prior to Saturday, was trying the turf for the first time for trainer Graham Motion. Bottled up behind horses in fourth for the first six furlongs, he came edged his way through a narrow opening along the fence in the stretch and beat Torres Del Paine by a head in the 1 1/16-mile contest.
“He’s always shown a lot of ability. Him and Sharing (who also won a stakes on the Laurel card) have been working together, so I thought a lot of him all along,” Motion said.
Irish Mias races for his breeder Isabelle de Tomaso and is a half-brother to Bridgetown S. winner Regally Irish. Their dam Irish Score is a sister to $1.2 million earner Irish War Cry and Grade 3 winner Irish Strait.
Meru was a much more comfortable winner of the Smoke Glacken, taking the six furlong affair by 3 1/4-lengths on the lead the entire way. He covered the distance in an excellent 1:08.93.
Meru was bred by Godolphin and is the first foal out of Lady Lavery, making her a half-sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Skylighter. Meru is owned by Colts Neck Stable, who purchased her for $300,000 at the 2019 OBS Spring sale of 2-year-olds in Training this April.
In addition to Saturday’s winners, Sky Mesa is the sire of this year’s top 2-year-old filly Perfect Alibi, winner of three of four starts, including the Spinaway S. (G1) and Adirondack S. (G2) at Saratoga.
