LC Racing and Wellesley Stable’s Kappa Kappa, a Grade 2 winner last fall that has gone unraced since early December, is set to make her 4-year-old debut Saturday in the $125,000 Skipat at Laurel Park.
The 33rd running of the six-furlong Skipat for fillies and mares 3 and up is the first of nine stakes, four graded, worth $3.15 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program highlighted by the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. First race post time is 10:30 a.m. ET
Trained by Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid Jr., the speedy Kappa Kappa went unraced at 2 and has not been out since tiring to sixth after setting the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Comely (G3) Dec. 7 at Aqueduct to cap her rookie season.
Reid had initially targeted the 6 ½-furlong Vagrancy (G3) May 3 at Aqueduct for Kappa Kappa’s seasonal unveiling but opted to give the chestnut daughter of Omaha Beach more time and point for Preakness weekend.
“Our plan was for the Vagrancy and we weren’t quite ready for that spot. She needed just a couple more weeks,” he said. “Then she just breezed brilliantly for me the other morning and came out of it great. She’s having a nice week of training and trained nice again [Monday] morning so we decided to go ahead, make the jump and take a shot in the Skipat.”
Kappa Kappa has won three of five career starts, including a victory over Pennsylvania-bred elders going 6 ½ furlongs last September that preceded a determined head victory at odds of 27-1 in the seven-furlong Raven Run (G3) in mid-October at Keeneland.
“It was great,” Reid said. “She’s a very classy filly. We were down there with the big crowd which Keeneland will turn out and she just never turned a hair. She stood perfectly in the paddock and looked like a million bucks, and she ran like it. Hopefully she’ll do the same thing on Saturday.”
Hall of Famer John Velazquez will ride Kappa Kappa from post 3 in a field of seven at Laurel, which is hosting Preakness weekend for the first time during the rebuilding of historic Pimlico Race Course.
“It’s going to be an exciting day, that’s for sure,” Reid said. “We’re looking forward to it. She’s handled it well in the past and I believe she will again this weekend.”
Golden Lion Racing’s Complexity Jane shortens up to a sprint for just the third time in what will be her 10th start and first since running fifth in the Tyson Gilpin last August at Colonial Downs. Trained by Laurel Park-based Brittany Russell, the 4-year-old filly is five-for-nine overall and five-for-seven at her home track, with two-turn wins in last year’s Weber City Miss, Thirty Eight Go Go and Carousel.
Complexity Jane is cross-entered in Friday’s $100,000 Allaire du Pont Distaff going 1 1/8 miles.
“She’s been great. We’ve been thinking about doing a little cutback with her at some stage,” Russell said. “I didn’t really want to run her in the du Pont so we decided to give this a try. She had a sharp work the other morning.”
Joel Politi’s Texas-bred Modo takes a two-race win streak into the Skipat, having romped in state-bred stakes by 10 ¼ combined lengths at Sam Houston and Lone Star Park, the latter going 6 ½ furlongs April 16 in her first start since former assistant Kinnon LaRose took over the barn following the retirement of trainer Tom Amoss. Overall the Liam’s Map filly has won five races and more than $301,000 in purse earnings from 11 starts.
“She’s been running in Texas and running well for us,” LaRose said. “We’ll give her a shot and see.”
Also entered to make her season debut is Chief Horse Futures’ Striker Has Dial. The 5-year-old Dialed In mare has been third or better in 11 of 14 lifetime starts, the most recent a front-running neck triumph in the six-furlong Endine last Sept. 27 at Delaware Park. Trained by Horacio De Paz, she ran second by 1 ½ lengths in last year’s Skipat, her third start of the year following two straight wins.
Larry Rabold’s Passage East is based at Laurel Park, where she has three wins and three seconds from six starts. All of those victories came in succession over the fall and winter including the seven-furlong Barbara Fritchie Feb. 14, but her streak came to an end when third in the one-mile Sandy Bottom March 14 at Colonial Downs last time out.
Also entered are Three Diamonds Farm’s Sporting Lady, in the money 11 times from 13 starts including two wins, and Kaleem Shah, Inc.’s multiple stakes-placed Benedetta.
Bred in Connecticut, Skipat won 26 of 45 career races over six years, earning $614,215 in purses between 1977 and 1981. Two of her wins came in the Barbara Fritchie (G3), in 1979 and 1981, the latter coming the year after she had been retired, bred, and brought back to the races.
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
