Week in Review: ‘Off the Grid’ Ohio-Bred Filly a Perfect 10-for-10

[Wandering Eyes]

The victory by Silent Rule (Street Boss) in Thursday's first race at Thistledown barely registered on the national radar. But it was still a pretty impressive accomplishment: With a 2 3/4-length score against the boys in the $100,000 Honey Jay Stakes for Ohio-breds, the 4-year-old filly from trainer Jay Bernardini's barn is now 10-for-10 lifetime.

Silent Rule, who sold for $16,000 as a Keeneland yearling, didn't start racing until Aug. 10 last year, in the second half of her 3-year-old season. But she has now bankrolled $355,456 in purse earnings, more than 22 times her auction price.

John Hoctel, a Florida realtor, owns Silent Rule. A Horse Racing Nation profile by Ron Flatter last month explained how Hoctel acquired Silent Rule for free prior to her racing career after the previous owner “decided to move on” when it seemed as if setbacks might keep Silent Rule from racing. Initially, Hoctel had planned on rehabbing and selling her himself, but encouraging workouts under the Mountaineer-based Bernardini's care convinced him to race her.

Silent Rule won her Aug. 10. 2024, debut at Thistledown against Ohio-breds by 11 1/2 lengths, and has visited the winner's circle every race since.

She's primarily roughed up state-bred competition against her own sex, but Silent Rule did also win two allowance races against open competition at Mahoning Valley last winter.

Another state-bred allowance score in the Mahoning mud on Apr. 7 earned Silent Rule a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

The filly has since regressed to the mean, numbers-wise (79, 84,83) while continuing her winning ways. But her Aug. 14 victory in the Honey Jay came against males and was punctuated by a nice turn of tactics compared to her usual near-the-lead efforts.

Silent Rule stalked from mid-pack, then swung six wide for the drive before seizing the lead a furlong out.

Nine of her victories have come at six furlongs, with the lone outlier win at 1 1/16 miles. Bernardini told Daily Racing Form a stretch-out attempt could be in her near future.

Slayer of faves…

Surface to Air (Midshipman), who was claimed for $30,000 out of a winning Keeneland maiden race last year, has now done something unique while winning two Grade III Monmouth Park stakes in succession this summer: The Panagiotis Synnefias trainee has consecutively beaten heavily bet, odds-on shippers from the nationally prominent Brad Cox barn.

The 5-year-old, owned by Premier Stable, orchestrated a 19-1 upset of the 1-10 favorite Just a Touch (Justify) in the July 19 Monmouth Cup on the GI Haskell Stakes undercard.

Four weeks later, the 7-2 Surface to Air outlasted the 1-5 favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense) in Saturday's GIII Philip H. Iselin Stakes.

Surface to Air has now compiled a lifetime record of 6-1-3 with earnings of $682,054 from 22 starts.

Multi-surface stakes success…

The victory by Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) in Saturday's GI Alabama Stakes at Saratoga completed a unique trifecta of sorts for fillies exiting last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Participants in that stakes have since come back at age three to win Grade I or Group 1 stakes at a trio of different distances and surfaces.

Nitrogen wins Saturday's Alabama | Sarah Andrew

The winner of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, 'TDN Rising Star' Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), captured the May 25 G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas over one mile on grass at The Curragh.

Kilwin (Twirling Candy), fifth in the Breeders' Cup, won the GI Test Stakes over seven furlongs on dirt at Saratoga.

Nitrogen, third in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at 49-1 odds, registered her 10-furlong Grade I dirt win Saturday after having won three graded grass stakes earlier in the season, romping by 17 lengths in an off-the-turf graded stakes in the slop, and then getting nosed out of a nine-furlong score in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational on the Saratoga lawn July 5.

There was almost a fourth Grade I winner out of that key Breeders' Cup race on Saturday.

But Thought Process (Collected)–ninth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf–ended up being the beaten favorite at 11-10 odds when second, 1 1/4 lengths behind a 35-1 victress, in the GI Del Mar Oaks.

Five in Travers…

Only five horses were entered Sunday for next Saturday's GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga, and the days leading up to this year's “Midsummer Derby” are likely to be dominated by talk of how short the field is.

The powerful presence of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) is partially to blame for scaring off a robust and deep field of competition.

Previous editions of the Travers in the 2020s decade have featured seven or eight starters. But as recently as the 2010s decade, double-digit entrants were the norm, with every Travers between 2014 and 2019 luring at least 10 starters, including 13 in 2016.

Can you name the last time the Travers went with only five starters?

You have to go all the way back to 1994, when Holy Bull prevailed by a neck at 4-5 odds over Concern, with the remaining three stragglers at least 17 lengths in the wake of the top two.

The 1982 edition also featured a field of five. The 12-1 Runaway Groom, who trailed the field by 15 lengths in the early stages, scored by three-quarters of a length over Aloma's Ruler. The pacemaker Conquistador Cielo, favored at 1-5, was another half-length back in third.

In 1975, Wajima prevailed at 4-5 odds by 10 1/2 lengths in another five-horse Travers.

As a side note, 1975 was the first year in which all Travers entrants carried equal weights of 126 pounds. It had formerly been conducted under allowance conditions, with earnings deciding the weights.

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