Same old Silver Story

Either in front of the pack or at the back, Silver Story can’t seem to be toppled from the top.

Justifying his role as the best two-year-old runner in the land, Silver Story ruled the Juvenile Championship at Sta. Ana yesterday, firming up his status among the top few hopefuls for next year’s Triple Crown.
Rallying from 8-10 lengths behind, Silver Story, who has won his previous big-time runs either in front or in second position, beat Gutmoore by four lengths, capping an incredible season for owner Patrick Uy, who walked away with another P600,000 purse.

The talented colt by Conquistarose out of Northern Edge, who swept the Juvenile Colts championships and fancied to sweep next year’s Triple Crown, thus hiked his earnings to P3.4 million in eight months.

He had fractions of 24'-25-25'-29 over the 1,600-meter distance or a clocking of 1:44.

It was slower than the 1:39.6 submitted by retired super horse Real Top in winning the Dino Bambino Handicap in 1998 also at Sta. Ana, but it proved beyond doubt that Silver Story is the best among the two-year-olds today, beating the top fillies in Gutmoore and Ilocandia Slew.

Morena, another upcoming filly, expectedly set the pace with Ilocandia Slew, a noted stretch runner, surprisingly opting to press the quick-stepping Sweepstakes winner early on.

Silver Story settled in fourth-fifth positions, making his move only at the backstretch when Ilocandia Slew strode past the fading Morena. Hernandez then urged his mount at the far turn and Silver Story responded with a big run that saw him zoom past three rivals before galloping home to the victory.

Before Silver Story hit the wire, Hernandez looked back to get a glimpse of the opposition, shook his head then waved his whip in the air to cap another great run by the prized grey galloper. — Ramon Romuldez