Silver Max seeks to extend win streak in American Derby

Silver Max brings a five-race win streak into the American Derby (Four Footed Fotos)

In five starts on turf this season, no horse has been able to head Silver
Max. Whether that trend continues will be determined Saturday when the streaking
three-year-old heads a field of 10 in the Grade 3, $200,000
American
Derby at Arlington Park.

The 1 3/16-mile American Derby is one of the many highlights on Arlington
Million Preview Day, which features local preps for three Grade 1 events — the
Arlington Million, Beverly D. and Secretariat — and the newly-instituted
American St Leger, all of which will be held at Arlington on August 18.

Of the three major preps, the American Derby might have the most significance
on its corresponding Grade 1 event. Arguably the nation’s leading three-year-old
turf performer, Silver Max has enjoyed a whirlwind spring and summer with
wire-to-wire tallies in the Grade 3 Transylvania, Grade 2 American Turf,
Arlington Classic and Oliver. The latter, a one-mile event at Indiana Downs,
proved an explosive performance as the Dale Romans charge drew off to win by 6
3/4 lengths while setting a course record of 1:33 4/5.

Rahystrada captured the 2010 Arlington ‘Cap in style (Four Footed Fotos)

Rahystrada hopes to join an exclusive club when he seeks a second victory in
the Grade 3, $200,000
Arlington
Handicap at 1 1/4 miles. Unlike Round Table (1958-59) and Cosmonaut
(2006-07), however, Rahystrada will not be defending a title as his previous win
in the Arlington Million prep came in 2010.

An eight-year-old gelding, Rahystrada has enjoyed mixed success since last
gracing the Arlington Park winner’s circle. He won or placed in three of six
starts last term, capturing the Colonial Turf Cup and Grade 3 River City
Handicap, but struggled other times in Grade 1 company. He enters the Arlington
‘Cap off a title-defense third in the Colonial Turf Cup on June 16.

The probable favorite here is Phipps Stable’s Boisterous, who since November
has won the Grade 3 Knickerbocker, Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap and Grade 3 Fort
Marcy. Boisterous was most recently third in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap.

Upperline returns to the site of her four-length Arlington Matron triumph (Four Footed Fotos)

A contentious field of seven will line up for the Grade 3, $200,000
Modesty
Handicap at 1 3/16 miles, a prep for the Beverly D. Upperline, a Grade 3
winner on turf and synthetic, might go as a slight favorite despite a recent
upset loss in the Trillium at Woodbine.

Another expected to be well-backed is Bizzy Caroline, whose two Grade 3 wins
both came at Churchill Downs, the most recent of those being the June 2 Mint
Julep Handicap. Snow Top Mountain, meanwhile, has registered a pair of Grade 3
wins this season in the Suwannee River and All Along.

She’s All In, an emphatic 8 3/4-length winner of the Grade 3 Sixty Sails
Handicap on dirt at Hawthorne, returns to a surface where she is two-for-three,
including a stakes triumph at Louisiana Downs last fall. The field’s other
graded stakes winner, Smart Sting, has not yet lived up to her potential despite
being a daughter of turf champion mare Perfect Sting.

The Grade 3, $150,000
Stars
and Stripes at 1 1/2 miles serves as a prep for the $400,000 American St
Leger, which will be run over 1 11/16 miles on the Million program. The likely
favorite is multiple Grade 2 winner Musketier, a 10-year-old gray who recently
captured the Grade 3 Singspiel at Woodbine.