My Silencer likely to target Kingarvie Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bill Tharrenos recorded his first stakes win since 2015 last Wednesday night at Woodbine when he sent out first-time starter My Silencer to victory in the $100,000 Frost King Stakes over seven furlongs on Tapeta.

My Silencer won the Frost King convincingly by 3 1/2 lengths, earning a 72 Beyer Speed Figure. While the $225,000 Coronation Futurity for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds on Nov. 18 seems like good timing, Tharrenos said he would likely point My Silencer to the $100,000 Kingarvie Stakes for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta on Dec. 1 for his next start.

“I think the Kingarvie,” he said. “It’s two turns, and I don’t think we want to push the envelope too quick back.”

Tharrenos said the son of Silent Name was training well in the lead-up to the Frost King Stakes, but admitted he had doubts as to whether running in a stakes first time out was the right decision.

“The horse was training very well,” he said. “It’s not the ideal spot to run the horse, but he did need to go farther because he was galloping out in his workouts. To tell you the truth, I thought it was a little too much for him. He’s shown ability all along, it was just are we ready for that kind of company the first start? Not realistically we weren’t, but the horse has ability. It all worked out.”

Tharrenos will again make Gulfstream Park his winter home and anticipates that My Silencer will be part of his Florida string.

Tharrenos has another promising 2-year-old in the barn, Stolen Identity, who is working his way back to the form he showed in his career debut. He was a disappointing ninth in the Bull Page Stakes in his second career start Sept. 23.

Stolen Identity won his first start by 8 1/4 lengths in an Ontario-sired maiden special weight event July 29. He was the morning-line favorite for the Simcoe Stakes on Aug. 29, but became a vet scratch after getting sick. Tharrenos said Stolen Identity may not have fully recovered from his illness in the Bull Page.

“He had a bacterial infection,” he said. “He just didn’t have enough time to recoup. He showed a little bit of bleeding in that stake. That was a little disappointing, because we rushed him back with one work. I think you’ll see the real horse come back.”

Tharrenos said Stolen Identity has been working well in recent weeks. He breezed four furlongs in 47.60 seconds on the dirt training track here Oct. 27, his first work since the Bull Page Stakes, and followed that with a bullet five-furlong breeze in 59.00 here Saturday morning.

“If you had seen him work [on Saturday], you’d think wow,” Tharrenos said. “He’s in good order.”

With all of the remaining 2-year-old stakes for the meet around two turns, Tharrenos said he was pointing Stolen Identity toward an Ontario-sired allowance over six furlongs on Tapeta that is written in the condition book for Nov. 30.