Guineas raid off the agenda for American ace Swiss Skydiver

PA Sport Reporters
May 18, 2020 4:30 pm

Number of factors make ambitious trip no longer viable.

Potential American raider Swiss Skydiver has been ruled out the Qipco 1000 Guineas by trainer Kenny McPeek.

The Daredevil filly put herself in the frame for the Newmarket Classic when accounting for the highly-regarded Venetian Harbor in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn earlier this month.

She had previously won the Gulfstream Oaks and while both Grade Two successes came on dirt, McPeek reports Swiss Skydiver to have shone on turf in her work, too.

However, she will not make the journey to Newmarket for the fillies’ Classic, which is pencilled in for June 7 and for which she had been as short as 14-1, as coronavirus-related restrictions around travel added to reduced prize-money mean the trip is no longer viable.

McPeek tweeted: “Swiss Skydiver will go to Santa Anita for the Oaks, June 6. She handled her turf workout fine but logistics for Newmarket won’t work.

“Purse change, cost, can’t send staff – all factors. Such a great race, perhaps another season.”

McPeek is no stranger to having runners in Britain, most notably saddling Hard Buck to be second to Doyen in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in 2004.

His last British foray proved freakishly disappointing, with Kentucky Oaks runner-up Daddys Lil Darling bolting before the start of the 2017 Oaks at Epsom. She unshipped Olivier Peslier and was withdrawn, as Enable went on to victory in a race run in a thunderstorm.