Silent Sonet to try dirt in Interborough

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Silent Sonet is a stakes winner on synthetic and turf. Friday, the 5-year-old Ontario-bred mare will attempt to add a third surface to her résumé when she makes her dirt debut in the $100,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct.

Silent Sonet was one of eight fillies or mares entered Sunday for Friday’s Interborough, which had been scheduled for Monday, but was not even drawn when the New York Racing Association decided last Thursday to cancel Monday’s card due to extreme cold.

Silent Sonet has made all of her 13 starts at Woodbine for trainer Nicholas Gonzalez. She has gone 3 for 6 on turf, including a victory in the La Prevoyante and Zadracarta stakes. Silent Sonet is 2 for 7 on synthetic, including a Grade 3 victory in the Ontario Fashion.

Silent Sonet does not have much dirt pedigree. Her sire, Silent Name, was a graded stakes winner on turf. He finished eighth of nine in the Grade 1 Met Mile, his lone start on dirt. Silent Sonet has two siblings who won on dirt, but they were both in low-level claiming races at Penn National and Mahoning Valley.

Owner Ivan Dalos shipped Silent Sonet to Tom Morley with the idea of racing on dirt. Silent Sonet has breezed four times on dirt, but even Morley admits he really won’t know how she’ll fare until she races on it. This will be her first start since Nov. 25 when she finished second in the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine on synthetic.

“She’s done absolutely nothing wrong,” Morley said. “I haven’t been hard on her in the mornings. She’s been running all year. We know her ability level. The question is how she will handle the surface.”

Morley noted that Chris DeCarlo, who will ride Silent Sonet on Saturday, worked the filly once. Morley said DeCarlo told him “She felt like a filly with plenty of gears.”

Morley said he didn’t like drawing the rail.

The main contenders in the Interborough look to be Yorkiepoo Princess, Sower, Dawn the Destroyer, and Your Love. Also entered were Miss Mimosa, Honor Way, and Short Kakes.