Pan American: Silver Whistle edges longshot

Pletcher nearly pulled off a sweep of the afternoon's two long-distance turf stakes and a major upset to boot, but his 31-1 Ramazutti was run down in the final strides by Silver Whistle, who posted a neck decision in the Grade 3, $150,000 . Go Deputy, the more accomplished half of Pletcher's uncoupled duo, finished two lengths farther back in third as the 9-5 favorite.

Silver Whistle, who was narrowly beaten in each of his last three starts, was well placed under jockey Edgar Prado, just behind the leaders while saving ground from the outset of the 1 1/2-mile Pan American. Prado eased Silver Whistle off the hedge to go after Ramazutti on the final turn and eventually overtook him in deep stretch. Go Deputy moved to striking position while racing wide midway down the backstretch, but lacked a solid closing response through the stretch. Einstein, winner of the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap in his previous start, raced near the rear of the pack for much of the trip and finished fourth.

Silver Whistle ran 1 1/2 miles in 2:24.35 and paid $7.20 as the co-second choice in a field of eight turf specialists. Silver Whistle, a son of Alphabet Soup, is trained by Bill Mott for Frank Stronach, the Chairman of Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns Gulfstream Park.

"He had a nice trip, a beautiful trip, and he ran the leader down when it counted," said Mott. "This horse competed in stakes company last year and looked like he would stay even though this was the first time we've tried him at a mile and one-half. This was pretty decent company he beat today, and hopefully there will be more to come."