Breeders' Cup Mile: Silver Max enters Shadwell Mile on the rise

For the first half of 2013 it looked like Silver Max’s best days were behind him. The leading early-season 3-year-old turf horse in North America during 2012, Silver Max tailed off last fall and meekly began his campaign this year, finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Appleton at Gulfstream and fourth in the Grade 1 Turf Classic on Derby Day. Things got slightly better in two subsequent dirt starts, an off-the-turf, sloppy-track win over just three foes in the $62,000 Opening Verse, and a third in the Cornhusker Handicap, but then, somewhat out of the blue, Silver Max found himself again.

Back on turf, he won the Grade 3 Oceanport at Monmouth by more than five lengths over the decent Howe Great, a showing Silver Max validated with a two-length win the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch at Saratoga.

So, 2013 is looking like 2012 turned upside down, with slow-to-come-around Silver Max geared for a strong finish. Silver Max heads into the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on Saturday at Keeneland ready for a much better showing than his fading ninth in the race last year. The trouble is, even Silver Max at his zenith might not prove any match for the Shadwell favorite and the leading horse in the turf Mile division, Wise Dan.

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“We’ve got to face him sooner or later if we’re going to run in the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Dale Romans said. “We’ve got to try and take him on.”

A good showing in the Shadwell would send Silver Max on to his Breeders’ Cup debut in the $2 million Mile, where Wise Dan remains a prohibitive favorite. The Shadwell is one of three important races in the Mile division this weekend: At Santa Anita on Saturday, Obviously, the second-best North American grass-miler until proven otherwise, figures to be heavily favored to win the Grade 2 City of Hope Stakes, while Sunday’s Arc de Triomphe card at Longchamp includes the Group 1 Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs, the race that Goldikova used as a prep for two of her three BC Mile victories.

Silver Max, a Badge of Silver colt, had every reason to regress during the second part of 2012. He debuted during July 2011 at Saratoga and started five times as a 2-year-old, racing steadily through December and making his 3-year-old debut in January. By the time the Secretariat Stakes rolled around in mid-August, Silver Max already had gone through an eight-start campaign, winning turf stakes in the Transylvania, the American Turf, the Arlington Classic, the Oliver, and the Virginia Derby. He finished fourth as the 2-1 Secretariat favorite, and even a freshening into the fall could not turn Silver Max around in time for last year’s Shadwell.

“I think I asked him to do a little too much,” said Romans. “They might be winning easy, but it’s taking a toll on him.”
Silver Max trained this season, even during his slow start, like he did at his peak last year, and Romans said he was never worried Silver Max wouldn’t regain his form.

“I don’t know that I managed him the best throwing him to the wolves right off the bench,” he said. “I probably should have taken a more conservative approach this year.”

Silver Max can rate a touch in a pinch, but like Obviously in California, speed is his major asset. He has been the first call-leader in his five most recent starts, and should attempt to take the Shadwell field – Horse of the Year Wise Dan included – gate to wire.

“It’s hard for other horses to go that fast with him, and we’re not going to change anything about him,” Romans said. “[Wise Dan] is going to have to catch us. But so far he’s been able to catch about everybody that’s run against him.”