Silver Prospects digs in for win at Remington Park

Silver Prospector showed his back class Wednesday night, winning the featured allowance race at Remington Park, digging in gamely for the win under leading rider Stewart Elliott and 18-time training title-winner here, Steve Asmussen.

As a 2-year-old, Silver Prospector won the Grade 2, $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Tiz the Law in third. Tiz the Law went on to win the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and the Florida Derby as a sophomore and ran second in the Kentucky Derby. That same year, Silver Prospector won the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in his journey on the Triple Crown trail for Asmussen and owners Ed and Susie Orr of Greely, Colo. The trail ended for him in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby when he began to tail off.

On Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, the 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gray horse by Declaration of War, out of the Tapit mare Tap Softly had to dig deeply in the stretch as Oklahoma-bred home-track hero Number One Dude, came to him and challenged him neck-to-neck. When that happened, Elliott found another gear from Silver Prospector. He went on to win the one-mile race by three-quarters of a length over Number One Dude (6-1). Silver Prospector was sent off as the 8-5 second betting favorite in the race and paid $5.40 to win, $3.40 to place and $2.10 to show.

Release McCracken (3-2 favorite) checked in third, another 1-1/4 lengths behind.

Silver Prospector’s most recent impressive race came in the Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile on March 30, running second and beaten only 1-1/2 lengths by Frosted Grace. He was ridden by Asmussen’s son Keith in that event.

The big gray earned $23,949 from Wednesday’s $40,000 purse and improved his lifetime record to 37 starts, eight wins, four seconds and five thirds for $1,630,791 in earnings. Silver Prospector was placed second in the early part of the race, just off the shoulder of front-runner Machine Gun Man, who eventually faded to fourth. After Silver Prospector took over after three-quarters of a mile is when Number One Dude, in third, began his move under jockey Leandro Goncalves. It was an excellent second from the multiple stakes winning Oklahoma-bred for owner Terry Westemeir and trainer Scott Young, who both make their home in Oklahoma. Westemeir is from Broken Arrow and Young lives in Pryor. 

Interior fractions for the race were :24.23 for the first quarter-mile, :47.72 for the half-mile, 1:11.87 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:24.30 for seven-eighths of a mile until the winner hit the wire in 1:36.84 over the fast track.