Simply Joking handles added distance in Silverbulletday

Simply Joking demonstrated her stakes capability making her debut last month at Fair Grounds. Saturday, she showed she’s also a route horse.

After winning her first start in the six-furlong Letellier Stakes, Simply Joking went wire to wire in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes, going one mile and 70 yards around two turns.

Over a sloppy, sealed, tiring track, Simply Joking, rating kindly enough for Jaime Torres, clocked a solid 23.70 seconds for her first quarter-mile, going her half in a quick 47.53, and while it took her 26.94 seconds to complete her fourth quarter, no one was finishing fast Saturday over the laboring going, and Simply Joking, despite bobbing in and out in the final 50 yards, tallied by 2 1/2 lengths over late-running Bless the Broken.

“It went exactly how I thought it would go,” said Whit Beckman, who trains Simply Joking for Grantley Acres, Ryan Conner, and Berkels0813.

Simply Joking, $5.40 as the favorite, was timed in 1:44.30, about par for the Silverbulletday. Bless the Broken, the longest price in the race at 16-1, came from last of six for second, a neck in front of the Beckham-trained Drexel Hill, who showed vastly improved pace with the addition of blinkers. Chasten, the 2-1 second choice, pulled fairly hard while racing in the pocket down the backstretch and came up empty, checking in fourth, just in front of 2-1 shot Golden Gamble.

Beckman has said Simply Joking can become slightly keen while breezing inside horses, but Torres said the filly relaxed during Saturday’s race.

“I was very comfortable on her the way she was traveling. She did everything by herself,” Torres said. “She was a little green at the end waiting for company, but she was much the best.”

Indeed, Simply Joking pricked her ears past the finish and galloped out with more energy than a spent horse would muster.

A Pennsylvania-bred by Practical Joke out of Imply, by E Dubai, Simply Joking was purchased for a relatively modest $65,000 as a yearling. Beckman was high on her from early days of racetrack training – high enough to start her off in a stakes race. A couple hours after Simply Joking won the Letellier, Beckman sent out Her Laugh to win the two-turn Untapable Stakes. Her Laugh could surface at Oaklawn next weekend in the Martha Washington Stakes. Drexel Hill got stakes-placed in the Silverbulletday.

Simply Joking earned 20 qualifying points Saturday toward the Kentucky Oaks (the four behind her 10, 6, 4, and 2, respectively). Beckman in a post-race interview said he’d take a wait-and-see approach to the Rachel Alexandra Stakes next month at Fair Grounds. He’s pulled all the right strings with these fillies so far this winter.

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