Silver Haze wins Excalibur Stakes

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Odds-on favorite Silver Haze made it two-for-two over the John Franks Turf Course this young season by winning Sunday's Excalibur Stakes at Harrah's Louisiana Downs. Longshot Hopkins turned in a bang up effort in his turf debut to finish only a head behind the winner and was followed by South Beach Bay.

E. J. Perrodin was content to see them all in the early going on board the winner behind soft fractions of :24.43 and :49.00. Perrodin moved Silver Haze ($3.60) closer under confident handling while widest of all into the straight and together they wore down a game Hopkins in the final strides, stopping the timer in 1:36.62 for the mile over firm going.

Owned by Kaaren Biggs and trained by Steve Wren, Silver Haze has now won four of his 12 career starts and has earned almost $110,000.

"I had a great stalking trip and rode him with confidence," said Perrodin following the race. "He did what I wanted him to do. That other horse (Hopkins) wasn't stopping. My hat's off to him as that was his first start on turf, it took a while to run him down."

"He (Silver Haze) is very comfortable on turf," continued Perrodin. "He stays in the bridle waiting on me and puts me in the race. Whenever I want him, he's there."