Suffolk Downs: Silk Spinner upsets Rise Jim Stakes

EAST BOSTON, Mass. – Silk Spinner dug in through the lane to hold off a determined challenge by the heavily favored Victor Laszlo to pull off the upset win in the $50,000 Rise Jim Stakes at Suffolk Downs on Saturday.

Sent off at 60-1 in the field of a dozen Massachusetts-breds, the Adel Salim homebred was making his first start in eight months and went right to the front in the six-furlong test. At the three-eighths pole, 1-5 choice Victor Laszlo engaged him and they made it a two-horse race, dueling to the wire before Silk Spinner prevailed by a half-length in an all-out drive under Elias Peltroche.

Silk Spinner covered the distance in 1:11.75 to give the rider his first Suffolk stakes win, while Victor Laszlo was second, 2 1/2 lengths in front of the only filly in the field, Dreamed A Dream

“Once he’s in front, nobody’s going to go by him. He’s a good horse,” said Salim, who also trains the 5-year-old son of Silk Broker out of the Double Negative mare Make the Double. “Last year, he was clowning around in the paddock, acting up and leaving his race there, so we gelded him right after the meet ended in the fall. Now, he’s a three-time Mass-bred stakes winner.”

Silk Spinner, winner of the $50,000 African Prince Stakes here last September, returned $131.60, $38.60, and $18.60. He improved to 4 wins from 10 starts, all at Suffolk, with no seconds or thirds and upped his earnings to $85,620 with the $15,000 winner’s share of the purse.