Sterling Silver scores in an allowance optional claimer July 29 at Saratoga (NYRA/Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— In an otherwise quiet summer, trainer Tom Albertrani is hoping to make some noise with Mark Anderson’s Sterling Silver in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina at Saratoga Race Course.
The 4-year-old Cupid filly, still seeking her first open-company stakes win, faces seven rivals, all of whom have graded-stakes credentials led by champions Goodnight Olive and Echo Zulu and fellow multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Matareya.
“It’s a tough spot,” Albertrani said. “We’re coming off of some good races with her, but this will definitely be a big task for her. We’re just hoping that she can run well and pick up some pieces, maybe, and who knows. Whatever happens, happens. We just felt like off of her last race why not give her a shot.”
Sterling Silver exits a one-length optional claiming victory July 29 at Saratoga, giving her a win over the track at the same seven-furlong distance as the Ballerina, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint November 4 at Santa Anita.
Last year the New York-bred Sterling Silver ran in five consecutive graded stakes, two of them at Saratoga. After finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Test, also going seven furlongs, she was cut back to six furlongs for the Grade 2 Prioress and closed to be second by a neck at odds of 37-1 to another millionaire in Wicked Halo, also entered in the Ballerina.
“It all depended on how she ran in her last start,” Albertrani said of the Ballerina. “I could have put her in a New York-bred race again. It was the most logical place to go, but why not take a shot? We ran second in the Prioress last year when we took her out of New York-bred company and she just narrowly got beat that day. She’s run some good races and we’ll be happy just to see her run well.”
Sterling Silver hasn’t faced graded company since running ninth of 12 in last fall’s Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland, where Goodnight Olive, Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo ran 1-2-3. She has two wins, one second and one third in five starts this year.
“The Breeders’ Cup was another race where we kind of threw her in the deep end again and it was no real embarrassment. She ran OK,” Albertrani said. “Still, it’s a task for her. We know that, and we’ll take a chance.”
Sterling Silver, bred by Mallory and Karen Mort, drew the rail in the Ballerina under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, riding for the fifth straight race. Carrying just 116 pounds, she gets from two to eight pounds from her rivals.
“I don’t think [the post] really makes a whole lot of difference with her,” Albertrani said. “She’s going to be probably coming from toward the back end, anyway.”
Sterling Silver’s victory last month is the lone win from just 11 starters at the meet for Albertrani, best known as the trainer of Bernardini, whose 3-year-old championship season of 2006 included wins in the Grade 1 Travers and Grade 2 Jim Dandy. In 2017 Albertrani saddled Sadler’s Joy to a win in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer, a race where he also saw Twilight Eclipse run second in 2013 and third from 2014-16.
In his career Albertrani has won more than four dozen graded-stakes, the most recent coming with Astronaut in the Grade 2 Red Smith in November at Aqueduct.
“We enjoy it. It’s always nice not just to participate, but to win the big ones. We’ve had a lot of success in the past. Sadler’s Joy and going back to Bernardini, we’ve had some good meets. Hopefully we can just knock one out,” Albertrani said. “We’ve only started 11 horses but at least we got one in the bag. I think we’ve got a couple more lined up the last couple weeks and hopefully we can add a couple more.”
