Silver Dust shows his development in West Virginia Governor’s Cup

Silver Dust, barring the totally unforeseen, never is going to be a truly top-level horse, but hard, meticulous work from his connections has made him into a solid graded stakes horse now, and he won his second Grade 3 race of the season when he beat Kukulkan by a half-length Saturday at Mountaineer Park in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Cup.

Silver Dust ($9.20) is a hard-headed, hot-tempered 5-year-old by Tapit out of Filare l’Oro, by Hard Spun, and even gelding couldn’t totally tame his demons. Silver Dust hasn’t made things easy on the staff of trainer Bret Calhoun, proving difficult to manage through typical racehorse tasks, but he has improved steadily at the nuts and bolts of professionalism and it is showing out on the racetrack. Silver Dust won the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap in February, was second by less than a length in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap, and now has finished first or second in eight of his last nine starts, the only exception a fourth-place finish in the Stephen Foster Stakes.

Saturday, under regular rider Jack Gilligan, Silver Dust stalked the pace outside as Exclamation Point went to the lead from an inside draw and Kukulkan came over from post 10 to press a moderate tempo. 24.54 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 48.82 to the half. Silver Dust made his move three wide and collared Kukulkan as Exclamation Point faded, and while Kukulkan battled on gamely along the inside, Silver Dust wore him down while holding off an outside bid from third-place Snapper Sinclair. Winning time for 1 1/16 miles over a fast track was 1:43.85.

Silver Dust’s career mark now stands at 5-6-2 from 23 starts for owner Tom Durant.

Caribou Club, Lift Up tally in turf stakes

Caribou Club ($7) set a course record winning the $75,000 West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker’s Cup, while Lift Up ($7) leapt up the rail under an excellent ride from Joe Bravo to capture the $75,000 West Virginia Senate President’s Cup.

Caribou Club, Feargal Lynch aboard, rallied from midpack and tallied by 1 1/2 lengths over More than Good, who dead-heated for the runner-up spot with Abiding Star. The winner flew through one mile 70 yards on a lightning-fast grass course in 1:37.09, a new course record. Tom Proctor trains Caribou Club, a gelding by City Zip out of Broken Dreams, by Broken Vow, for Glen Hill Farm.

Lift Up clocked 1:37.21 herself for the same distance, roaring through the final three-sixteenths of a mile to run down favored Cool Beans, who had gone clear in upper stretch. Bravo found room along the inside on Lift Up, who was full of run on the day for trainer Michael Dickinson and George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable. Lift Up is a 5-year-old mare by Ghostzapper out of Dynamic Cat, by Dynaformer.

► Seven-year-old warrior Always Sunshine ($6.20), Carol Cedeno aboard, won his 10th race in the $75,000 Sen. Robert Byrd Memorial Stakes, which scratched down to just four runners.

► Maybe Wicked ($5.20) and jockey Florent Geroux shrugged off a pace rival and went on to a 1 3/4-length score in the $75,000 West Virginia Secretary of State for older female sprinters.

► Zipp On By ($8.80) relished the abbreviated 4 1/2-furlong sprint trip of the $75,000 West Virginia Legislature Chairman’s Cup, leading from the start and posting a 6 3/4-length victory under Abel Lezcano.