Silver Dust doubles down with Mineshaft Stakes win at Fair Grounds

Silver Dust, already a winner at the Fair Grounds meet, backed up 9-5 favoritism Saturday when eking out a victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes.

The 6-year-old Tapit gelding was patient to stalk local allowance winner Pirate’s Punch’s opening fractions of :24.41 and :47.25.

Silver Dust tipped out off the far turn, mowed down that rival and then held Gun It at bay by ¾ of a length for his seventh career victory.

Campaigned by Tom Durant, the Bret Calhoun trainee had Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons for injured jockey Jack Gilligan, Silver Dust’s regular rider. Hernandez said he and Gilligan had dinner Friday night, during which he learned about the veteran stakes winner.

“We sat down and talked about him and I just got as much information off of him as a I could about the horse,” Hernandez said. “I told him that we were going to take care of him. Hopefully he keeps improving, which it looks like he’s doing.”

The final time was 1:43.40 for 1 1/16 miles, with this victory following the Louisiana Stakes (G3) on Jan. 18. Silver Dust returned $5.60 while winning the Mineshaft for the second straight year.

Silver Dust now owns four Grade 3 wins and figures to be among the top contenders for Fair Grounds’ $400,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) on March 21.

“This is my first 6-year-old to ever race,” Durant said. “I’ve raced a lot of horses, but I’ve never raced one this old. Thank goodness that he’s doing great.”

Gun It’s second-place finish in the Mineshaft marked his best-ever showing in a graded stakes. The 4-year-old Steve Asmussen trainee – a $2.6 million yearling purchase in 2017 – improved by one spot off his third-place Louisiana Stakes run last month.

Behind Gun It and Pirate’s Punch, Captivating Moon ran fourth in the field of nine that included come-backing Hofburg. The Grade 1-placed horse was off slow and never in contention running for the first time since last summer’s Saratoga meet.