Silver State looks 'totally fit' in time for the Louisiana Derby
David Fiske, Winchell Thoroughbreds’ racing and bloodstock manager, couldn't quite believe what he saw last Monday when trainer Steve Asmussen passed on details about Silver State's latest work toward the Louisiana Derby (G2).
The Hard Spun colt breezed with Chestertown, another Asmussen colt bound for Saturday's $1 million Kentucky Derby prep. That same morning, the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) favorite Finite drilled in company with an older horse, Tenfold.
“I watched the videos and I called Steve and asked him if he had transposed the times that he had sent me. Because Finite had worked 5/8th in like a minute and galloped out in 1:13, and then the time for Silver State and Chestertown was like 1:11 or something," Fiske said. "But Chestertown and Silver State looked like they were two-minute licking. They went by the wire and I was like, ‘They don’t even look like they’re trying.’
"But they ended up with the bullet for the day and they looked faster than our other two works. I asked Steve, ‘You didn’t transpose these times?' and he said ‘Nope. Aren’t they awesome?’"
Silver State has won just once from four starts, when he dead-heated last September at Churchill Downs. Despite high hopes, he burned some money when running second in both Fair Grounds' Lecomte Stakes (G3) and most recently a division of the Risen Star (G2).
Yet this may be the right time to bet Silver State, a sizable colt campaigned in partnership with Willis Horton Racing.
“He is a big beautiful horse, with an emphasis on big," Fiske said, "and I think it has just taken him a while to get fit. Horses like him and other horses who are very efficient in their action and have cardiovascular systems that you just can’t stress them enough in the morning to get totally fit.
"Sometimes it takes them four or five races to get totally fit. Hopefully he’s there now.”
Silver State will have Asmussen's first call rider, Ricardo Santana Jr., aboard from post 13 in an overflow Louisiana Derby field. It goes as a 12th-race finale at Fair Grounds with post time 5:49 p.m. ET.
A win by Silver State or Chestertown would be the fourth Louisiana Derby victory for the Hall of Famer Asmussen. His first came in 2001 with Fifty Stars, followed by Pyro in 2008 and Gun Runner in 2016.