Photo: Reed Palmer Photography
After his five-month vacation for trainer Chad Brown, seven-year-old Silver Timber is really starting 2010 with a bang: not only did he win his seasonal debut – Keeneland’s Grade 3 Shakertown Stakes on April 10 – but on Oaks Day at Churchill Downs he won the 16th running of the Grade 3 five-furlong $100,000 Churchill Downs Turf Sprint Stakes in course record time while spotting the rest of the field six-eight pounds.
Tabbed as the 2.70-to-1 favorite by post time in a competitive field of eleven, Silver Timber broke from gate six under Julien Leparoux, who has been aboard for the gelding’s last three starts. Settling in behind the four-horse vanguard – dueling leaders Central City and Starfish Bay and rivals Barge and Moralist – Silver Timber stayed well within striking range through a blistering first quarter (21.25). By the time he came out of the turn, the grey had worked his way up to third going three-wide and he closed steadily down the stretch. At the finish line he had a neck advantage over Chamberlain Bridge, who had rallied four-wide, and Central City, who rounded out the trifecta. Starfish Bay faded in the stretch. After a half mile in 43.57, Silver Timber stopped the clock in the course record time of 55.45, shaving .09 seconds off Unbridled Sidney’s July 9, 2005 mark. This is not a first for Silver Timber: in 2006 he set a record at Saratoga, running 5 ½ furlongs in 1:01.34.
A grey/roan son of former New York-based Prime Timber, Silver Timber was an April 2009 $25,000 claim by Michael Dubb and High Grade Racing Stable (Peter Randazzo) from Invictus Farm and trainer Linda Rice (who had purchased him as a two-year-old at OBS April for $110,000). In his eight starts since the claim, Silver Timber has earned $309,951 and racked up five victories, including four Grade 3 Stakes: the Jaipur at Saratoga (his first stakes win), the Woodford and Shakertown at Keeneland, and now the Turf Sprint at Churchill. Silver Timber also ran a close second (to Cannonball) in Saratoga’s restricted Commentator Stakes. His lifetime record now stands at 11-3-5 with $540,519 in earnings from 32 starts.
Silver Timber was bred and raised by Sez Who Thoroughbreds. Richard Simon’s New Dawn Stud purchased Silver Timber’s dam, multiple-winner River Princess (Alwuhush), at the 2000 Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale for $30,000. All four of her foals to start have been winners, including New York-bred Cracovia (Action this Day) who is Grade 3 placed in Peru and black type-placed Inrightclassitime (Straight Man). Her progeny have earned $717,494.
