Pay Any Price rolls to 3 ¼-length victory in Silks Run

Averill Racing’s Pay Any Price rolled to a 3 ¼-length victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Silks Run, setting a track record for five furlongs over Gulfstream Park’s turf course.

While running the distance in 53.61 seconds to eclipse Starfish Bay’s 2010 record of 53.75, Pay Any Price handed favored Power Alert his first loss in six starts over Gulfstream’s course.

Pay Any Price, who set the pace before finishing fourth behind Power Alert in the $125,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Jan. 28, broke alertly and never was threatened thereafter while setting blistering fractions of 20.63 for the quarter-mile and 42.39 for the half-mile under Edgard Zayas.

“I was a little bit worried, but the jock was sitting easy on him, so I was pretty sure he would get him home. We beat a nice horse today. My horse did a real good job today. I’m very proud of him. He ran super good,” trainer Ralph Ziadie said. “I never expected anything like a track record, but I knew he was going to run real good. He had been training excellent. He looks good; he was eating good and doing everything right.”

Power Alert, the 4-5 favorite ridden by Luis Saez, chased the winner throughout the race and finished second, two lengths ahead of late-closing Mongolian Saturday, the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner ridden by Carlos Montalvo.

The Brian Lynch-trained Power Alert was seeking a Silks Run three-peat and his sixth success in as many career starts over the Gulfstream turf, but Pay Any Price proved much too tough while winning his first stakes in 13 career starts.

“When I rode him before [three starts ago] he was very bad before the race – sweating and all. I think he left his race there that day. Today he acted very professional before the race. I think that was the key of winning this race. We had the favorite Power Alert inside and behind me. I gave my horse a breather after I sent him to the lead so he could finish a little bit more than he did in his last race,” Zayas said. “I think he went a little bit too fast in his last race and in the end Power Alert caught him. This time, when I gave him a little bit of relief in that second quarter, he was running at the end.”