Perhaps Wet Paint should have been named “Watercolor” instead. For the second straight race, she strode through sloppy conditions at Oaklawn Park with relish, adding Saturday’s Honeybee Stakes (USA-G3) and its 50 points toward a starting berth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) to the 20 points she earned with a win in the listed Martha Washington Stakes on January 28 under the same conditions and at the same mile and one-sixteenth distance. In both races, she came from well off the pace to win comfortably.
As a daughter of Blame, Wet Paint can reasonably be expected to continue improving with maturity. She is the second foal and the first winner from the Street Cry mare Sky Painter, who has since produced a 2022 filly by Medaglia d’Oro and is expecting a Not This Time foal this spring.
Sky Painter turned in her best racing performance when running second in the 2013 Miss Grillo Stakes (USA-G3). She is the only black-type runner and the only producer thus far out of the Sky Mesa mare Skylighter, who won the 2008 Indiana Oaks (USA-G2) and the 2009 Allaire Dupont Distaff Stakes (USA-G2) during her own racing days. Skylighter is a half sister to English listed stakes winner Speckled (by Street Cry), dam of 2020 Del Mar Derby (USA-G2) winner Pixelate (by City Zip), and to stakes winner Cave Hill (by Frosted); she is also a half sister to Lady Lavery (by Elusive Quality), dam of Grade 3-placed stakes winner Meru (by Sky Mesa).
Skylighter and her siblings are out of the winning Broad Brush mare Painted Lady, a full sister to multiple Japanese listed stakes winner Nobo True and a half sister to 1998 Honey Bee Handicap (USA-G3) winner Thunder Kitten (by Storm Cat), dam of 2008 Ribbesdale Stakes (USA-G2) winner Michita (by Dynaformer), 2014 Diamond Stakes (IRE-G3) winner Cat O’Mountain (by Street Cry), and Group 3-placed English listed stakes winner Willing Foe (by Dynaformer). Painted Lady is also a half sister to Teakabu (by Woodman), dam of 2014 Mexican champion 2-year-old filly Heakabu (by Impervious), and to Kristique (by Kris S.), dam of 2014 Singapore Horse of the Year War Affair (by O’Reilly) and second dam of 2018 A. T. C. Chairman’s Handicap (NZ-G2) winner Sir Charles Road (by Myboycharlie).
Painted Lady, in turn, is out of Nastique, a late-maturing daughter of 1970 Everglades Stakes winner Naskra who was among the best American older females at 4 and 5. Her major victories included the 1988 and 1989 editions of the Delaware Handicap (USA-G1) as well as the 1988 Matriarch Stakes (USA-G1).
Given the number of successful turf runners found in this family, it isn’t much of a surprise that Wet Paint was initially tried on turf as a 2-year-old; the greater surprise is that she showed nothing and wound up 10th during that first outing. She has since found a home on dirt, but while her speed figures are up with the other leaders of this year’s group of sophomore fillies, she has yet to prove that she can handle a fast surface in stakes company. As she is lacking in early speed, she will also have to cope with traffic problems in trying to come from off the pace in what is almost certain to be a crowded Kentucky Oaks field. Her next race, which is currently slated to be the Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3) at Oaklawn on April 1, may reveal much as to whether or not she is a masterwork in the making.
As a daughter of Blame, Wet Paint can reasonably be expected to continue improving with maturity. She is the second foal and the first winner from the Street Cry mare Sky Painter, who has since produced a 2022 filly by Medaglia d’Oro and is expecting a Not This Time foal this spring.
Sky Painter turned in her best racing performance when running second in the 2013 Miss Grillo Stakes (USA-G3). She is the only black-type runner and the only producer thus far out of the Sky Mesa mare Skylighter, who won the 2008 Indiana Oaks (USA-G2) and the 2009 Allaire Dupont Distaff Stakes (USA-G2) during her own racing days. Skylighter is a half sister to English listed stakes winner Speckled (by Street Cry), dam of 2020 Del Mar Derby (USA-G2) winner Pixelate (by City Zip), and to stakes winner Cave Hill (by Frosted); she is also a half sister to Lady Lavery (by Elusive Quality), dam of Grade 3-placed stakes winner Meru (by Sky Mesa).
Skylighter and her siblings are out of the winning Broad Brush mare Painted Lady, a full sister to multiple Japanese listed stakes winner Nobo True and a half sister to 1998 Honey Bee Handicap (USA-G3) winner Thunder Kitten (by Storm Cat), dam of 2008 Ribbesdale Stakes (USA-G2) winner Michita (by Dynaformer), 2014 Diamond Stakes (IRE-G3) winner Cat O’Mountain (by Street Cry), and Group 3-placed English listed stakes winner Willing Foe (by Dynaformer). Painted Lady is also a half sister to Teakabu (by Woodman), dam of 2014 Mexican champion 2-year-old filly Heakabu (by Impervious), and to Kristique (by Kris S.), dam of 2014 Singapore Horse of the Year War Affair (by O’Reilly) and second dam of 2018 A. T. C. Chairman’s Handicap (NZ-G2) winner Sir Charles Road (by Myboycharlie).
Painted Lady, in turn, is out of Nastique, a late-maturing daughter of 1970 Everglades Stakes winner Naskra who was among the best American older females at 4 and 5. Her major victories included the 1988 and 1989 editions of the Delaware Handicap (USA-G1) as well as the 1988 Matriarch Stakes (USA-G1).
Given the number of successful turf runners found in this family, it isn’t much of a surprise that Wet Paint was initially tried on turf as a 2-year-old; the greater surprise is that she showed nothing and wound up 10th during that first outing. She has since found a home on dirt, but while her speed figures are up with the other leaders of this year’s group of sophomore fillies, she has yet to prove that she can handle a fast surface in stakes company. As she is lacking in early speed, she will also have to cope with traffic problems in trying to come from off the pace in what is almost certain to be a crowded Kentucky Oaks field. Her next race, which is currently slated to be the Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3) at Oaklawn on April 1, may reveal much as to whether or not she is a masterwork in the making.
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