NYRA/Adam Coglianese
By Sarah Mace
Twin Creeks Racing Stables and Sequel Racing homebred Silver Mission is leaping nimbly through all the hoops to draw attention to his New York-based first-year sire Mission Impazible. A first starter and first winner for the young stallion, Silver Mission has now become Mission Impazible’s first stakes winner after romping in Belmont’s open $200,000 Tremont Stakes Friday by six-plus lengths.
Jockey John Velazquez and trainer Todd Pletcher opted to send the grey/roan colt, even before the gate scratch of Lady Stardust, who was the odds-on favorite to beat the boys in this 5 1/2-furlong dash.
Said Pletcher, “We were a little concerned with the way the track seemed to be playing. [We] know it’s not a long way to the turns. so you’re not running into the headwind quite as much. These races everybody’s kind of done the same thing. [Every starter has] run once and most of them have won. Most of them are wire-to-wire, so you sort out who’s the quickest.”
Second choice in the Tremont at 2-1 in the field of four that remained, Silver Mission got a jump on the field at the break, comfortably established control and led the field by about a length through a first quarter mile in 22.99 and half in 45.89.
The colt began to draw off more decisively at the head of the stretch and cruised home under a hand ride to win by a margin of 6 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:03.78. Favorite Hey Mike, Pachi Cruze and Saratoga Two Step filled in the remaining placings. [VIDEO]
Pletcher said after the race, “He caught a great start, Johnny [Velazquez] was super impressed with the way he broke away from there. It was his race to have from there.”
Velazquez commented, “It was pretty easy. He broke well coming out of there. He got to the lead and he kept going. He handled it very well.” The pilot also alluded to the colt’s relatively small size: “He’s pretty quick for a little guy. He’s also pretty talented for as little as he is.”
Silver Mission was a game winner of his debut on April 21, when he defeated four open company juveniles by three-quarters of a length after winning a tough stretch battle and experiencing some contact with the runner-up.
The Tremont winner, who has earned $161,000 from his two victories, is the fourth winner from four starters out of Grade 3 winner and $438,843-earner Nashinda (Silver Deputy) who is a half-sister to Canadian champion Archers Bay (Silver Deputy). Her A.P. Indy filly Nashindy is stakes placed. Nashinda has a yearling full sister to Silver Mission and was bred back to Mission Impazible this year.
Mission Impazible (Unbridled’s Song), a multiple Grade 2 winner campaigned by Twin Creeks Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher, stands at Becky Thomas and Dennis Narlinger’s Sequel Stallions New York for a 2016 stud fee of $7,500. Twin Creeks has vigorously supported the stallion, booking over 20 of their Kentucky-based mares to him in his first season, including Nashinda.
