Silver Max makes waves in Oceanport
Mark Bacon and Diana Wells’ Silver Max returned to the turf to capture his
fourth graded victory in style by crossing the wire 5 3/4 lengths ahead of his
next closest rival in Sunday’s Grade 3, $170,000
Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park. The 4-1 third choice returned $10.80,
$5.60 and $4 to his backers while picking up $90,000 to push him over the
million dollar mark and leave him with $1,058,403 in lifetime earnings from a
20-9-5-1 career line.
The Dale Romans charge broke alertly, setting quick fractions of :23 4/5, :47
and 1:09 4/5 as he wired the field with ease. Silver Max only had a half-length
lead through six-furlongs as last year’s winner of this race, Tune Me In, tried to
keep pace but ultimately faded to finish seventh.
“He’s just a super quick horse that’s capable of laying down some speedy
fractions,” Romans said. “He just keeps going and going. I only have one other
horse in my barn that can match his easy, fluid stride — and that’s Little
Mike.”
Despite the swift fractions, Silver Max shook free from his competition
around the far turn to widen his lead in the stretch, and by then it was a race
for second. The four-year-old colt stopped the clock in 1:40 for the 1 1/16-mile
test over the firm turf with Robby Albarado in the saddle.
“He broke great and I just held on; there wasn’t much to it, ” Albarado said.
“I was able to get him nice and relaxed. There was no contention early which was
good for him and he finished fast.”
Howe Great got up for second and it was another 1 3/4 lengths back to Hudson Steele
in third, who got up by a head over Change of Command. Decisive Moment,
5-2 favorite Swift Warrior, Tune Me In, Two Notch Road, General Logan and Hobbs
rounded out the order of finish. Glass Art was scratched.
Silver Max needed six starts before breaking his maiden on
Gulfstream Park’s turf in January 2012 and after a well-beaten fifth in the Holy Bull
on dirt, he switched back to turf with a gusto. His proceeded to set a six-race
win streak beginning with a 3 3/4-length romp over allowance/optional claiming rivals at
Gulfstream and he followed with a convincing 5 1/2-length triumph in Keeneland’s Transylvania Stakes.
Next came a 2 3/4-length, tour-de-force performance in the American Turf at
Churchill Downs. Silver Max continued to humble the competition with a facile
two-length win in the Arlington Classic and he won the Virginia Derby last July
off a 6 3/4-length, track record-setting performance in the Oliver
Stakes, completing a mile over Indiana Downs’ turf in 1:33.88.
Silver Max’s six-race win streak would come to an end when he made his first
Grade 1 start in the Secretariat at Arlington Park on August 18, as he gave way in
the stretch to finish fifth. The son of Badge of Silver would close out his three-year-old campaign with
a disappointing ninth in the Shadewell Turf Mile at Keeneland in October.
He
failed to regain his form when he made his 2013 debut in the Appleton at
Gulfstream Park in March, finishing fifth, and then was fourth to Horse of the
Year Wise Dan in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill in May. The bay showed promise when running away with the Opening Verse Stakes by 9
1/2 lengths over a sloppy Churchill Downs track in a race that was taken off the
turf two starts back on June 1. He was exiting a third-place finish in the
Cornhusker Handicap over a fast Prairie Meadows track at the end of last month.
Bred in Kentucky by Steve Snowden, Seth Lauffer and Will Lauffer, Silver Max
was a $20,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling. Produced by the Kissin Kris mare
Kissin Rene, he is half-brother to stakes winner True Kiss. This is the extended
family of Grade 1 winner and sire Yes It’s True as well as Canadian champion and Grade 2 winner Kiss a Native.
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