Performance of the Week: Silver Max

The Shadwell Turf Mile didn’t live up to its billing.

First, a torrential downpour caused the event to be washed off the turf and onto the Polytrack at 1 1/16 miles.

Then, heavy favorite Wise Dan, the reigning Horse of the Year, had his nine-race winning streak snapped by the speedy Silver Max.

Yes, there were some surprises in the race, but the style Silver Max employed wasn’t a shock to anyone. The Dale Romans-trained colt knows only one way to run, and that is to zip to the early lead and hope no one catches him.

Nobody was catching him Saturday.

Breaking from post 9 in the 10-horse heat, Silver Max broke a half-step slowly but soon cleared to the inside before the opening quarter was completed in 23.79 seconds. He faced pressure from Grade 3 winner Hogy and Grade 2 winner Handsome Mike entering the backstretch and sped the half in 46.73 seconds.

Wise Dan loomed a wide menace on the final turn, but Silver Max and jockey Robby Albarado scooted away through six furlongs in 1:10.41. Wise Dan plugged away, but Silver Max never looked in danger. Despite drifting out a bit in the stretch, he streaked under the wire 1 1/4 lengths in front of Wise Dan.

Silver Max finished the journey in 1:42.06 and received a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure. Completing the order of finish in the Shadwell were Grade 2 winner Willcox Inn, multiple Group 1 winner Winning Prize, multiple stakes winner Coalport, Grade 2 winner Skyring, multiple Grade 3 winner Summer Front, Hogy, Grade 1 winner Turallure, and Handsome Mike.

“He’s got such a high cruising speed,” Albarado told track publicity after the victory. “Dale said, ‘Take it to them right away, and let them catch you.’ He’s doing so well. The horse has been training forwardly – the best he’s been doing since he started with him. Dale prepared him well this year with stretching his races out. He’s a fresh horse.”

Although some observers will pooh-pooh Silver Max’s win, noting that Wise Dan was trained to compete in an eight-furlong grass event, it must be noted that Wise Dan had taken four of his last five races on Polytrack, including a 117-Beyer romp in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland on April 22.

Silver Max has come to form beautifully this season, winning four of his last five races. In discussing Silver Max’s resurgence, Romans said: “He had management issues. I threw him to the wolves probably a little quicker than I should have, but we backed up and regrouped, and he’s strong this fall. We had a tired horse last fall – this fall, we’re just peaking.”

Bred by Steve Snowden, Seth Lauffer, and Will Lauffer, Silver Max was foaled in Kentucky on March 8, 2009, and sold for $20,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton summer yearling auction.

His sire, Badge of Silver, finished third in the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Mile, a race that Silver Max will attempt to grab next month. Badge of Silver was versatile enough to win races at distances ranging from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. His notable triumphs came in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on dirt and the Grade 2 San Gabriel Handicap on turf, both at nine furlongs. Badge of Silver’s other North American graded winner, Silver Medallion, scored in three Grade 3 events. Like Silver Max, Silver Medallion did his best racing on turf and synthetic surfaces.

Silver Max is a half-brother to True Kiss, a stakes winner on dirt traveling one mile at Great Lakes Downs. Their dam is the sprint winner Kissin Rene (by Kissin Kris). Kissin Rene is a half-sister to stakes-placed sprinter Mt. Rene, Grade 3 winner Prince of the Mt., and unplaced Clever Monique (the dam of Grade 1 sprint winner Yes It’s True). The second dam, Monique Rene (by Prince of Ascot), took 15 stakes during a 45-race career.

Silver Max made his debut in a $50,000 selling race going 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt at Saratoga and finished second. He then ran second in his next four races but broke through in his initial start at 3.

Silver Max was undefeated during a six-race span last year from March 9 to July 21. That streak included five stakes on turf, with three of them graded (the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland, Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill, and Grade 2 Virginia Derby at Colonial).

Perhaps showing signs of fatigue after his impressive run, Silver Max finished fifth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes on Aug. 18, 2012. In his final start at 3, and his first race against older horses, Silver Max placed ninth of 12 behind Wise Dan and Willcox Inn in the Shadwell Turf Mile.

Silver Max began his 2013 campaign with two losses, but he had excuses in both races. In the Grade 3 Appleton Stakes at Gulfstream on March 30, Silver Max was taken off the pace, and that simply isn’t what he wants to do. When beaten on the Kentucky Derby undercard in the Grade 1 Turf Classic Stakes, he caught a very yielding turf course and spun his wheels when the real racing began.

The following month, Silver Max returned to his winning ways with a 9 1/2-length crushing of three foes in the $62,000 Opening Verse Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, a race washed off the turf and contested on dirt.

His performance on dirt in the Opening Verse convinced Romans to try the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap four weeks later at Prairie Meadows. Silver Max showed his usual early speed but couldn’t go with Prayer for Relief and Taptowne, two horses who returned to win stakes races.

Silver Max returned to turf in the Grade 3 Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth on July 28 and went gate to wire with a 103 Beyer after setting a controlled pace. He then took advantage of a speed-favoring Saratoga turf course as the lone speed in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap on Aug. 31.

Silver Max heads into the Breeders’ Cup Mile in extremely sharp form. Although Silver Max doubtlessly was good in the Shadwell, it’s likely that Wise Dan will be tighter for the BC Mile, and Silver Max may face another quality speed horse in Obviously.

Although the Mile will be an extremely tough spot, Silver Max certainly deserves to be placed on watch lists for turf and synthetic races down the road.