Game of Silks – Reflections, Week of 11/27/23

Dornoch (inside) fights back and gets the Remsen victory (Joe Labozzetta)

By 2YO EdgeMan

I didn’t think that the Game of Silks could get more exciting, but every week it seems to continue to build momentum.  The comradery among the players is amazing and the rewards are fantastic.   If you are not yet on board in Silks, I highly encourage you to check them out silks.io today – it is not too late, but you want to get involved as soon as possible.  There are plenty of excellent horses still available in the pool, but it’s best to act fast.  And today’s yearlings – the wonderful two-year-olds of tomorrow – will likely be added soon.  So, act fast!

Aqueduct hosted the Grade II Remsen Stakes this past Saturday.  It carried a purse of $250,000 and is one of the first important prep races for next year’s Kentucky Derby, as it is run over One and One Eight Miles on the dirt.  And what a race it was – truly one for the ages!  The race-time favorite was Dornoch at odds of 8/5 – he is the full brother to last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Mage.  He was coming off an impressive maiden-breaking performance at Keeneland on 10/14/23 when he won by an eye-catching 6 ½ lengths at One and One Sixteenth Miles on the main track.  

As the gate latch sprung open, Dornoch was ready to run and Luis Saez got him to the front going into the first turn.  Private Desire broke wide and slow, but he rushed up to put pressure on the leader, while Billal stalked a length or so further back.  As Private Desire ran out of steam, Billal moved forward to take over the pressing duties in the two path and nearing the head of the stretch looked Dornoch square in the eye, only to be turned back as the favorite opened up some daylight and powered away to a two-length lead.  Meanwhile, Jose Ortiz got the second choice, Sierra Leone rolling on the turn and he began to gobble up ground as Dornoch ducked in a bit and brushed the rail just outside of the 1/8th pole.  Sierra Leone collared the leader and opened up about by a half-length margin by the time the combatants hit the 1/16^th marker.  But Dornoch was not done, amazingly he fought back and got his nose down on the wire for the most unlikely and narrowest of victories. 

Trained by Danny Gargan, this colt paid $5.40 to his $2 win backers, and he stopped the timer at 1:50.30 to earn a 97 Equibase Speed Figure.  The winning owner in Silks was House of Fred Top-10 and for this incredible win, I am awarding this fine owner my Game of Silks’ Owner of the Week award.  Congratulations!  I also want to call out Vshakerfarms – they won four races last week with purses of $50,000 or more – outstanding!  Check out the full list below…

Note:  Current value of 1 ETH = approximately $2,093.71

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