Plan works perfectly for Just Whistle in Sunday Silence Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Michael Matz said his primary instruction to jockey Luis Saez prior to Sunday’s $75,000 Sunday Silence Stakes was to get the late-running Just Whistle outside horses and make sure once he started his rally he didn’t get stopped. The meet’s leading rider followed those orders to perfection, with Just Whistle rallying out past the center of the track to upset odds-on favorite Spinoff in the 1 1/8-mile race decided over a sloppy track at Gulfstream Park.

“If he’d been any wider at the end, he would have been in the winner’s circle,” Matz quipped by phone immediately after the race. “But that’s exactly what I told him [Saez] to do. He is one of those horses who is kind of lazy, a real grinder. You have to keep riding him hard the whole time. And once you get him going, you don’t ever want to get him stopped.”

Matz made a little adjustment to Just Whistle’s equipment prior to his last start, adding blinkers for the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope. He was rewarded with second place after Just Whistle responded to the change by rallying from nearly a dozen lengths off the early leaders down the backstretch to fall just a length shy of his first graded stakes victory.

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In the Sunday Silence, Just Whistle settled about a half-dozen lengths off the pace of Wind of Change, commenced his rally midway on the turn, and was under vigorous urging while angling well wide around Spinoff into the stretch before ultimately wearing the favorite down in the final sixteenth.

Spinoff stalked the early leader, fanned wide himself engaging for command leaving the final bend, held a short advantage through much of the stretch, drifted further out in the late going, and was not good enough.

Eye of a Jedi dwelt at the start, recovered to move to close contention near the inside entering the stretch, but could not kick on with the top two at the end, finishing another two lengths further back in third. He was followed by You’re to Blame, the tiring Wind of Change, and Big Dollar Bill. Phat Man was scratched.

Just Whistle, a homebred son of Pinoeerofthe Nile owned by Helen Groves, completed the distance in 1:50.71 and paid $10.40.

“He ran a good second in the Hal’s Hope with the blinkers on, now this race today, so hopefully he’ll be able to string a couple of more good races together and show a little more consistency than he has before,” said Matz, who will head back to his summer headquarters at Fair Hill on Wednesday. “We’ll get him back to Fair Hill and just see what’s available when we get up there. One advantage to stabling at Fair Hill is that you are in a position to ship around to a lot of different places to run.”