Maryland based Messi took the lead from front running Fixador and then fought off the closers as he won the Grade 2, $204,400 Sky Classic Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday. Jockey Edgar Prado was aboard as the Graham Motion trained Messi covered ten furlongs on Woodbine’s turf course in 2:01.98.

Fixador went right to the front and Messi settled in right off his flank. He stalked the front runner until the stretch and then passed him with little effort. He then headed to the finish with plenty of energy to hold off Up With The Birds, Are You Kidding Me and Button Down. At the wire, Messi led Are You Kidding Me by 2.5 lengths. Up With The Bird finished third with Button Down coming in fourth.

Trainer Motion said that he likes Messi and even when he disappointed there was usually a reason for it: “I really like this horse and most of his disappointing races I have a pretty good explanation for. I thought he ran well last time at Arlington. We caught a really soft turf course at Churchill (Grade 3 River City Handicap) last year and he got a clod in his eye and had some pretty serious surgery. He had the winter off and we saved the eye and he’s back better than ever.”

Prado said that since there wasn’t much speed in the race he took Messi to the front and put him on ‘cruise control’: “It seemed there wasn’t much speed in the race. The only speed was the horse in front (Fixador), first time with blinkers. We traveled in second all the way and hoped to come home strong. He was doing everything so easy. He had plenty left in the stretch.”

Messi won his first graded stake in October of last year at Belmont Park in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker. The gelding now has a career record of 6-5-2 in 20 starts with earnings of over $450,000. Messi rewarded bettors by paying $10.20 to win in something of an upset. The presumptive favorite was third place finisher Up With The Bird–he was Canada’s horse of the year and top three-year-old in 2013.