Sky Mesa’s Llanarmon stormed down the Woodbine stretch to win the $150,000 Carotene S. Oct. 13, becoming the 12th stakes winner of the year for her sire. Sky Mesa is Kentucky’s leading sire of 2-year-old stakes horses, with seven to date.
The Harlequin Ranches’ homebred was near the back of the field of eight 3-year-old fillies for the first six furlongs of the 1 1/8-mile trip before jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson asked her for her run late on the turn. Sweeping four wide, Llanarmon made the lead about a furlong from the wire and rolled home with authority.
The winner covered the nine furlongs on a firm turf course in 1:49.21.
“I loved her going into this race,” said winning trainer Roger Attfield. ”I thought her last race (when third in the La Lorgnette on Polytrack) just showed her off to me. She was so far out of it that day and came with a big run to be third. She’s obviously getting into the habit of taking herself off the pace. But she was far too far off the other day, so I said to Emma, ‘If you can keep her a little closer, she’ll probably win this race today.’ I was very high on her.”
Llanarmon earned $90,000 for the victory to push her career bankroll to $344,090. Her career mark of 3-0-4 includes a win in last year’s Natalma S. (G2). She is out of Gold Strike, also a top-class performer at Woodbine who won the Selene S. (G3) and Woodbine Oaks.
