Silentio lowers boom on Sir Beaufort rivals

Big Bane Theory continued to battle gamely through three-quarters of a mile

in 1:10 3/5, but Silentio had all the momentum on the outside and surged to the

lead. Battle Force momentarily appeared a danger in the final furlong, sweeping

into the picture with a bold late turn of foot, but Silentio continued to find

more all the way to the wire, winning comfortably by a half-length.

The son of Silent Name completed a mile in 1:34 1/5 on the "good" turf.

"There's no secret. He's a good horse," Mandella said of the winner. "The

secret is to have a good horse and that's what this is."

Silentio left the starting gate as the 3-1 second choice among eight runners

and paid $8.40, $4.20 and $3. Battle Force, the 3-1 favorite, finished a length

better than 16-1 third-placer Press Baron. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to

Big Bane Theory, who was followed by Midnight Crooner, Consipiracy, Smart Ellis

and Fit to Rule.

Silentio captured his first career start in October 2011, winning a one-mile

turf maiden special weight at Santa Anita, but wasn't seen again under silks

until September 5 at Del Mar, scoring in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance/optional

claimer. He then finished third in a October 12 allowance/optional claimer at

Santa Anita. With Wednesday's $90,000 payday, Silentio has now earned $165,960

from his 4-3-0-1 record.

"He really liked the turf today," said Bejarano, who captured the Grade 1 La

Brea one race earlier and won three of the first six races on the opening-day

program. "In his last race he broke from post one and he was kind of waiting a

little bit. He still ran a good race, but the way he ran today he was clear from

the outside and it was much better for him.

"He was more relaxed in the race so that's why he gave me a good turn of foot

in the stretch."

"The only thing I'll take credit for is we gave him a lot of time for his

injury as a 2-year-old," Mandella added. "He won last year here and came out of

a race with activity in his tibia that would have turned into fractures. But the

bigger thing was he had some cysts in his hocks. (They were) dug out surgically

and we gave him a lot of time to get over it."

Out of the unraced A.P. Indy mare Listen, the Kentucky-bred Silentio hails

from an excellent female line. His second dam, the stakes-winning and Group

1-placed Manila mare Ecoute, is a half-sister to a pair of French highweights,

multiple classic winner and sire Green Tune and Group 1 vixen Pas de Reponse,

and this is the family of champions Storm Bird (sire of Storm Cat) and

Northernette.

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