‘Silky’ smooth sailing in 9-year-old debut

Despite a two-month layoff and a not-so-easy journey the venerable Fort Silky made his initial start as a 9-year-old a winning one in last weekend’s headliner at Balmoral Park. Tonight the pride of the Leonard Stable goes after career victory No. 52 in the ninth race “Winner Over” for older male pacers.

Merle Finn Jr’s Wings guns for her fifth triumph in her last six starts in the co-featured third race “Winner’s Over” for fillies and mares.

Fort Silky (p.p. 5) will be the 3-1 first-flash favorite on the tote board in the eight-horse field. The homebred son of Ft Apache Hanover has had a superb career for his Paw Paw, Illinois owners John Prentice and Neva Jane Keller, earning $729,931 and making 51 stops at a winner’s circle.

Fort Silky’s 1:52.4 triumph on a cold (7 degrees) night with a wind chill factor that hovered at 15 below zero was a more difficult mile that driver Casey Leonard anticipated.

“I thought with a five-horse field “Silky” wouldn’t have had to race as hard as he did but things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would,” said the 37-year-old Harvard, Illinois native.

“Silky likes to leave and even though it looked like John’s (De Long) horse (Cam B Zipper) had some early speed I decided to take him out of there. Major Monet was also used hard in the (:26.4) first quarter and dropped into third behind us but when Dale (Hiteman) came out and took over the lead it put us in a tough spot.

“If I didn’t move ‘Silky’ out of there and race first up we would been third on the inside with a longshot on the front that had already been used twice. I didn’t like our chances that way so I moved ‘Silky”and raced him first up”

Fort Silky held off a fast closing Lennox Blue Chip (Ridge Warren) by a neck. Tonight Lennox Blue Chip (pp 6) is the programmed third choice behind Best Man Hanover (pp 4, Todd Warren) who is at 4-1.

Rounding out the competitive field are Extravagant Art (8-1, Kyle Wilfong), Major Monet (6-1, Dale Hiteman) and Firstclassallthway (6-1, John De Long) in the first 3 slots and Fashion Delight (6-1, Dave Magee) and newcomer Sammy’s Cool Win (8-1, Ryan Anderson) with posts 7 and 8, respectively.

Wings has been nothing short of sensational for the driver-trainer team of Tim Curtin and Merle Finn Jr who also owns the 7-year-old mare. Wings dominated a comparable field last Saturday with a 4 and ½ length triumph and was overlooked in the wagering. Even though she was victorious in 3 of her last 4, all high-level distaffs events, Wings popped at 5-1 odds.

Making her first start of the 2015 season is former Indiana champion mare Always About Katey (pp 6, Todd Warren), the early 7-2 second betting choice.

The seven horse field also lured Love This Place (8-1, John De Long), Seeyouatthefinish (10-1, Pat Curtin), State Street Liz (6-1, Bobby Smolin), Just By Design (3-1, Dave Magee) and Ryleigh’s Lilly (9-2, Casey Leonard).

By Mike Paradise