Skyline and Sky High
Full brothers who won the Golden Slipper
Golden Slipper Wins
Skyline won the 1958 running of the world's leading 2yo race. His win was an upset with him starting as the outsider of the field at 25 to 1. Only two years later, his full brother Sky High dominated a small field to win as the 7 to 4 favourite.
Later racing
Skyline went on to win the AJC Derby, while Sky High became one of Australia's most successful racehorses. Sky High won 26 individual stakes races including the VRC Derby, Epsom Handicap, Lightning and Caulfield Stakes.
Sons of Star Kingdom
Skyline and Sky High were sons of Champion Australian stallion, Star Kingdom. Their performances helped him win his first Sires Title in the 1958/59 season, the year that Skyline won his Golden Slipper. Star Kingdom won the title for the following four seasons, and again in 1964/65. Star Kingdom was a son of Stardust, and a grandson of the immortal Hyperion.
Pedigrees of the Brothers
Skyline and Sky High were out of a Helios mare called Flight's Daughter. Helios is notable in that he is also a son of Hyperion. This stallion played an important role in the pedigrees of these two gallopers being found so prominently in the Star Kingdom's pedigree. As her name suggests, Flight's Daughter was out of one of Australia's greatest ever racemares in Flight. Flight was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. She won 17 individual black type races including two Cox Plates.
Both stallions at stud
Sky High performed best of the two stallions, standing at Woodlands Stud for his first three seasons before being sold to a US syndicate headed by “Bull” Hancock. Sky High is often found as Sky High II in US pedigrees, and had limited success there although he did sire their Champion Older Horse of 1972 in Autobiography. In his three seasons at stud in Australia, Sky High sired only four stakes winners. Sky High is most notably found in pedigrees as the broodmare sire of Blue And Gold, a son of Biscay who won the AJC Breeders Plate and sired 9 stakes winners during his stud career.
Skyline had even less impact at stud in spite of a lengthy career. He failed to sire a stakes winner, and he is rarely found in modern pedigrees. Perhaps his best descendant, and his longest lasting influence is through the good Queensland sprinter of the 1980’s, Christopher, although he did appear rather surprisingly in the pedigree of Wool Zone, a winner of the WA St Leger over 2400m.
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