Louisiana Downs: Got Shades wins Sunday Silence Stakes

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Got Shades put himself under consideration for either the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf or the BC Juvenile by winning his second straight stakes race in the $100,000 Sunday Silence at Louisiana Downs on Saturday.

The Sunday Silence, for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf, was the first of six stakes on a card featuring the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby.

Got Shades was the 3-10 favorite in the Sunday Silence on the strength of his 3 3/4-length win in the local prep, the $50,000 Sunny’s Halo on Aug. 3. On Saturday, he had one horse beat in the early stages as 34-1 shot Smilin Phil took the field through fractions of 23.87 seconds for the opening quarter, 48.09 for the half-mile, and 1:11.93 for six furlongs.

Got Shades forged to the front through traffic, then held off the rail bid of Mighty Brown for a three-quarter-length win. It was another length back to Thunder Run in third.

Roman Chapa rode Got Shades ($2.60), who covered the distance on firm ground in 1:37.01.

“He put in an awfully nice performance today,” said Danny Pish, who trains the winner for Dennis E. Foster. “He’s just a very professional racehorse in his short career. Today was as equally impressive as the Sunny’s Halo. And even though the margin of victory was less, he just did his job like he was supposed to, was well in hand.”

Pish said Got Shades will ship to his Retama Park base near San Antonio for about 10 days, then head to Santa Anita to run in one of two Breeders’ Cup preps, the Grade 1, $250,000 FrontRunner on dirt Sept. 28 or the $100,000 Zuma Beach at a mile on turf Oct. 6.

“The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf is the foremost race in our thought process,” Pish said. “We haven’t ruled out the possibility of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Of course, we’d have to run him in the FrontRunner and be very pleased with what we saw, and we’re not sure we’re going to try the FrontRunner.”

Got Shades is a son of Pollard’s Vision.