Spirit of St. Louis wins Hudson Valley; Silver Skillet takes Port Washington

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Heavy favorites dominated the two turf stakes for New York-breds on Sunday’s closing-day program at Aqueduct as Spirit of St Louis ($3) won the $121,500 Hudson Valley for males by three lengths and Silver Skillet ($3.10) took the $116,250 Port Washington for females by seven lengths.

In the Hudson Valley, Spirit of St Louis, under Manny Franco, stalked the pacesetting Itsallcomintogetha to the top of the stretch, tussled with that horse until just before the eighth pole, and then drew away sweetly in the stretch.

Dakota Gold rallied from off the pace to get second by a neck over Itsallcomintogetha, who was a neck better than City Man. Jerry the Nipper finished last.

Spirit of St Louis covered the mile in 1:35.83 over firm ground.

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It was the fifth consecutive win and eighth from 10 career starts for Spirit of St Louis, a 5-year-old gelding by Medaglia d’Oro owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn and trained by Chad Brown.

Spirit of St Louis is 6 for 7 on turf and 2 for 3 on dirt. He’s won from on the lead, or from off the pace.

“He’s very versatile, wherever you put him he’s going to give you 110 pecent,” Franco said. “He probably likes to be a little covered up, but wherever you put him he’s going to be there for me.”

Brown has previously indicated that he would run Spirit of St Louis against open company at some point this year, and Franco said he would look forward to the challenge.

“I’m really confident with him that I can compete with those kinds of horses the way he’s doing right now,” Franco said.

In the $116,250 Port Washington Stakes, Joel Rosario sent Silver Skillet straight to the front and she never looked back, cruising to a seven-length victory over Lisa’s Vision. It was two lengths back to Marvelous Maude, who was a neck better than Snowy Evening. Whatlovelookslike scratched.

Silver Skillet, a 4-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map, won her second straight stakes, having captured the off-the-turf Mt. Vernon last month at Saratoga by four lengths. Overall, she has won five of 14 career starts for owners Dean Reeves, Tango Uniform Racing and Steven Rocco and trainer Christophe Clement.

“She’s good. The whole thing after her 3-year-old [year] was to make sure she developed into a nice mare in the division - she’s obviously a nice mare in the division,” Clement said.

Like Spirit of St Louis, Silver Skillet is equally adept on turf or dirt.

“That makes it even better,” Clement said.

Silver Skillet covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.33 over firm ground.

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