Stallion Feature: Sky Mesa

A grade one winner as a two-year-old and a grade two winner as a three-year-old, Sky Mesa was a successful racehorse. However, his biggest success has come as a sire. This is no surprise, as this bay beauty is royally bred.

Sky Mesa
Photo: Terri Cage

Sky Mesa traces back to all three Triple Crown winners of the 1970s (Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed) and is inbred 4 X 4 to Secretariat. His sire, Pulpit, is by the great sire A.P. Indy, who sired 138 stakes winners from 16 crops. Pulpit himself is a very successful sire, having produced 56 stakes winners since he entered stud in 1998. Sky Mesa is one of thirty-one grade one winners by Pulpit and contributed $636,076 to the near $49,000,000 Pulpit’s foals have earned.

As if Sky Mesa doesn’t have enough stallion power on his sire’s side, his dam is by the great Storm Cat, who once stood for $500,0o0. His dam, Caress, was a three-time grade three winner and a full sister to group three-winning Bernstein and the grade three-winning and grade one-placed Country Cat, as well as a half-sister to the multiple group or graded stakes-winning Della Francesca.

Sky Mesa is not the only talented horse Caress has produced. She is also the dam of Golden Velvet, a two-time grade three winner who was also grade one-placed, and Monthir, a multiple graded stakes-placed horse.

As a sire, Sky Mesa has produced grade one winners on every surface: General Quarters (a grade one winner on turf and synthetic) and Sky Diva (a grade one winner on dirt). Other talented horses by Sky Mesa include the grade two- and grade three-winning Storm Mesa, the grade two winners Skylighter and Satans Quick Chick, and the grade three winners Thiskyhasnolimit and Final Mesa.

I have seen Sky Mesa in person multiple times at Three Chimneys Farm and each time, I have been impressed by the stallion’s powerful build. He is very wide through the chest and from stifle to stifle, as well as bulging throughout the forearms and gaskins. In addition to his impressive muscularity, Sky Mesa has a strong shoulder that is quite sloping, which allows him to be a very well-balanced individual. Furthermore, the bay son of Pulpit stands straight on his short, strong cannon bones and has pasterns that are of nearly the same angle as his shoulder. With a strong loin and powerful hip to add to all of this, it is needless to say that Sky Mesa is a very well put-together horse.

With an impressive race record, a successful stud career since entering stud in 2004, and incredible conformation, Sky Mesa has plenty to offer. Standing for $30,000 at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky, Sky Mesa is quickly becoming one of the most popular stallions standing at stud.


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