Skippylongstocking tabbed as CT Classic favorite
Luv Your Neighbor is Oaks fave
The Biz
August 23, 2026
Two-time Charles Town Classic winner Skippylongstocking has been installed as the lukewarm 3-1 morning line favorite for this year’s renewal of the Grade 2, $1 million event run at 1 1/8 miles.
The Classic and Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks headline a 13-race program that includes two other open stakes and several state-bred events. Post time is 5:00 p.m.
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Skippylongstocking, a seven-year-old intact son of Exaggerator trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. for Daniel Alonso, has won 14 races in his career while racking up more than $5.9 million in earnings. Earlier this year he logged his first Grade 1 triumph in Gulfstream’s Pegasus World Cup.
Skippylongstocking won the Charles Town Classic in 2023 and 2024 but last year floundered to a disappointing eighth-place finish as the favorite. Tyler Gaffalione, who rode him to victory in the ’23 Classic, has the mount.
Three runners are lined between 4-1 and 5-1, demonstrating the depth of the field, and eight of the 10 are 15-1 or less.
The trio closest to Skippy in odds are last year’s champ Banishing (4-1), Maryland hopeful Barbadian Runner (9-2), and Willy D’s, who finished second to Banishing last year here and has since earned his first graded victory.
Barbadian Runner also owns a win over the strip, rallying from well off the pace to win last year’s Robert Hilton Memorial going seven furlongs. An on-the-board finish will make the son of Barbados a millionaire, a remarkable feat for a horse who cost $5,000 as a yearling. Henry Walters trains him for A J Will Win Stables LLC.
In the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks, Henry Walters’ brother David Walters will send out one of the major contenders. Charles Town-based David Walters trains At a Premium (9-5) for owner-breeder Jill Daniel. Racing exclusively over the strip, At a Premium has won all four of her starts by a combined total of more than 40 lengths and will have regular pilot Jeiron Barbosa up.
Her major competition looks likely to be Luv Your Neighbor (8-5) for trainer Michael Stidham and owner Lael Stables. A Constitution filly, Luv Your Neighbor has won two of nine starts, but one of those wins came in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, and she has been second or third in three other graded events.
Trainer Saffie Joseph also is likely to have a say in the two other open stakes.
In the $300,000 Pink Ribbon, he’ll send out defending champ Mystic Lake, who also won the Charles Town Oaks in 2024 and has banked $1.6 million. She may not go favored – runners like Grade 2 winner Irish Maxima and formful Foie Gras will take plenty of money, as well – but she should be a player.
And in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial for three-year-olds, his Solitude Dude is almost certain to be favored. The Yaupon colt has won four of seven starts and last out was beaten a head in the Grade 2 Amsterdam while earning a career-best and field-topping Byer speed figure of 103.
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