Thoroughbred › Horses

There wasn't a more dominant horse on the grass in North America in 1992 than Sky Classic, a chestnut colt owned and bred by Ernie Samuel's Sam-Son Farm of Milton, Ont. He won the Eclipse Award as the Champion Turf Horse for trainer Jim Day and the jockey who rode him for much of his career, Pat Day.

A son of Nijinsky II and out of Sovereign Award and Hall of Fame mare No Class, Sky Classic exhibited his class as a two-year-old, winning the Cup and Saucer, Grey and Summer Stakes and earning a Sovereign in 1989 as Canada's champion juvenile colt. A serious injury to his hind leg prevented him from competing for most of his 3-year-old season. His best effort was a second-place finish to French Glory in the Rothmans Ltd. International Stakes. However, he rebounded magnificently in 1991, winning more than $1 million while earning two Sovereign Awards as champion older horse and turf horse in Canada. His stakes victories that season came in the Connaught Cup, King Edward Gold Cup, Seagram Cup Handicap, Canadian Maturity and the Rothmans, where he established a turf record for 11/2 miles.

His wins at age five came in the Arlington Handicap, the Manhattan Handicap at Belmont, a race in which he set a course record for 11/2 miles, and the Early Times Dixie Handicap. He was also second by a nose to Fraise in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Gulfstream. That year he was also second in the Arlington Million and the Early Times Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

He retired in 1993 with a career record of 15 wins and 22 in-the-money finishes in 29 starts and earnings of $3,240,398, a record at that time for a Canadian-bred colt. Standing at Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Ky., Sky Classic was an immediate success as a sire. He had 317 winners from his first 11 crops and 39 black-type winners.

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