Sky Conqueror is an Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Out of the mare

Mare (horse)

A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

, Heavenly Ballerina, a daughter of 1982 United States Horse of the Year

Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....

, Conquistador Cielo

Conquistador Cielo

Conquistador Cielo was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Purchased as a yearling for $150,000 by Henryk de Kwiatkowski, he was trained by Woody Stephens. Racing as a two-year-old, Conquistador Cielo won two races in his four starts...

, he was sired by Sky Classic

Sky Classic

Sky Classic is a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. A son of U.K. Triple Crown champion Nijinsky, in 1989 Sky Classic won the Sovereign Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse in Canada but injuries kept him out for the most of the 1990 racing season.Back racing on grass in 1991, Sky...

, a son of the 1971 British Triple Crown champion, Nijinsky

Nijinsky II

The racehorse Nijinsky was one of the greatest horses in Thoroughbred horse-racing history. He won the U.K. Triple Crown of racing. Retired to stud he became the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland and the Leading broodmare sire in North America.He was bred at E. P...

.

Trained by Darwin Banach, Sky Conqueror was sent to the track at age three with his best Stakes race result a second in the Chief Bearhart Stakes

Chief Bearhart Stakes

The Chief Bearhart Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Open to horses age three and older, it is contested on turf over a distance of a mile and a quarter ....

 at Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 and a third at Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...

 in November's Commonwealth Turf Stakes. Back on the track in April 2006, he had a fourth place finish at Keeneland Race Course before being sent north to race again at Woodbine. After another third-place finish, he won the Grade II King Edward Breeders' Cup Stakes and the Northern Dancer Breeders' Cup Turf

Northern Dancer Breeders' Cup Turf

The Northern Dancer Turf Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. A Grade I event with a current purse of $750,000 , it is held in the third week of July and run at a distance of 1½ miles on Woodbine's E. P...

. He won an allowance race tune-up for the prestigious $2 million Canadian International Stakes

Canadian International Stakes

The Canadian International Stakes is a $2 million Grade I Canadian stakes race on Turf for thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and up held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario....

 in which he ran third.

Sky Conqueror made his 2007 debut in April at Keeneland Race Course, finishing fifth in the Grade II Maker's Mark Mile Stakes

Maker's Mark Mile Stakes

The Maker's Mark Mile Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the second week of April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky...

. In May, he defeated Better Talk Now

Better Talk Now

Better Talk Now is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Out of the mare Bendita, his damsire Baldski is a son of English Triple Crown Champion Nijinsky...

 and the favored Einstein in winning the Grade I Turf Classic Stakes

Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes

The Turf Classic Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race run in early May at Churchill Downs open to horses three years old and up. It is raced on turf at a distance of one and one-eighth miles and currently offers a purse of $500,000....

 at Churchill Downs. Back at Woodbine, in July he won his second consecutive Northern Dancer Breeder's Cup Turf. In August he finished third in the Nijinsky Stakes

Nijinsky Stakes

The Nijinsky Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually on the last Sunday of August at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario....

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