ALMIGHTY SILVER. Photo: Adam Coglianese
ALMIGHTY SILVER has flirted with stakes wins in the past, but Saturday was the day for Randy Stasi’s and Giorgi Stables’ five-year-old gelded son of Catienus when he participated in an exciting finish to win the mile and 1/16th $60,000 Tinchen Prince’s overnight stakes for older New York-breds by a hard-fought head.
Each of the seven horses in the Tinchen Prince’s field seemed to have something to recommend him in this spot; ten minutes before post-time three were vying for favoritism at four-to-one odds and chances were that the outcome was going to be unpredictable. At post-time, Almighty Silver was second choice in the betting at odds of 3.55-to-1. The main surprise took place when the gates opened, and Good Law, ridden by Rosie Napravnik (who had been bet down to the 2.05-to-1 favorite), was caught off-balance and spotted the field six and one-half lengths; he never managed to recover position. In the meantime, Freddy the Cap (the speed of the field) and Summer Share (who departed from his typical closing tactics on a day when the rail and speed were prevailing) hooked up in a battle for the lead, stalked by Naughty New Yorker under regular rider Jean-Luc Samyn. Naughty New Yorker’s performances have been inconsistent of late, but the eight-year-old millionaire was in the mood to fight to the finish on Saturday: after surging to the front on mid-turn, he continued to lead through mid-stretch and battled on as Almighty Silver, who finally disengaged himself from mid-pack traffic under jockey Jose Espinoza, overtook the veteran in the final strides of the race to win by a short head. Dr. D. F. C., the eventual long shot of the field (13.10-to-1), who had stalked throughout with Fernando Jara at the helm, got up for third. The splits for the race were moderate (24:53, 24:89 and 24:80) and the final time of the race was 1:45.25.
Almighty Silver, claimed by Paulino Ortiz last August, ran second twice and third twice in restricted stakes at three and four. He has now logged his first stakes victory and improved his record to 6-7-4 from 30 starts with $313,545 in earnings. Bred by Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey, Almighty Silver is out of Silver Sonnet (Silver Deputy), who has produced two winners from two starters (full siblings) and was bred last year back to Catienus. Catienus, stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.
