Boland Gets Stakes Win With Perfect Silent Cat In Aventura At Gulfstream

Although Perfect Silent Cat entered Saturday's $60,000 Aventura at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., as a maiden, trainer Sharon Boland had a high level of confidence in the son of Tale of the Cat.

“I knew what I had,” Boland said. “You can make those moves when you know what you have running for you.”

Perfect Silent Cat rewarded Boland's faith by providing her with her first stakes victory on her own, although she is hardly a newcomer to the stakes game.

The daughter of Bill Boland, the Hall of Fame jockey who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby aboard Middleground, Sharon has been training and working with horses for more than 30 years.

“Unfortunately, because my father was a steward, they wouldn't let me run horses in my name. In those days, they thought it was a conflict of interest, so I took a back seat and let my [then] husband [multiple graded stakes-winning trainer Anthony Mitchell] run them in his name,” said Boland, who has 21 horses stabled at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, in her second year of training her own public stable.”

The Charles Fipke-bred Perfect Silent Cat ($27.20) was purchased for $6,000 in February at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Mixed Sale by Shamrock Highlands Thoroughbreds.

“The owner is a new client who bought him and brought him to our stable. We couldn't figure why he slipped through the cracks,” said Boland, whose 89-year-old father lives in Palm Coast, Fla., and plays golf frequently. “We found a few little things we were able to fix, and from the second we fixed his little issues, he's been a 100-percent performer who gives you everything. He's the nicest colt I've been around – just a class act.”

Perfect Silent Cat had run three prior races – an off-the-board debut on dirt, a third-place finish on turf, and a runner-up finish in the June 26 Not Surprising Stakes over a yielding Gulfstream turf course last time out. The Kentucky-bred colt was the beneficiary of a perfect trip under Luca Panici, pressing the pace outside Rabdan past fractions of :24.47 and :48.04 seconds for the first half mile of the mile overnight handicap before drawing away to a three-length score.

Perfect Silent Cat carried the low weight of 114 pounds, 10 fewer pounds than highweight Papetu, the 1-5 favorite who finished fourth following a rough trip in traffic. Perfect Silent Cat ran a mile over a sealed sloppy track in 1:36.35. Emperor's Cause finished second following a three-wide trip, a neck ahead of a tiring Rabdan, who was 1 ¼ lengths clear of Papetu, who had captured the Carry Back Stakes in his prior start.

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Fighting Force Gets Clean Trip, Surprises Favorite In Not Surprising Stakes

Since being purchased privately last winter, Lea Farm LLC's Fighting Force had been blanked in three starts while racing under less-than-ideal circumstances. The son of Air Force Blue was due for some racing luck Saturday, and, boy, did he get it on his way to capturing the $75,000 Not Surprising Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Fighting Force ($14.60) received a dream trip in the mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds, benefiting from an extended speed duel between the favorites before surging to the lead at the top of the stretch and drawing clear by 3 ½ lengths under Samy Camacho.

“It was three races without a good trip. Samy said he was going to be patient and wait, wait, wait. It just worked out perfectly for us. We had a lot of speed in front of us and he got a good trip and the horse kicked on for him,” trainer Jeff Engler said. “It's nice when you dial it up and it actually happens.”

Fighting Force broke alertly from his No. 1 post to obtain a prime stalking position behind Bright Devil, the Mark Casse-trained 5-2 second choice ridden by Edwin Gonzalez, and King of Dreams, the 6-5 favorite ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, as a speed duel quickly developed and continued along the backstretch and into the far turn. After sitting off fractions of :23.28 for the first quarter and :47.50 for the first half mile, Fighting Force was angled off the rail on the turn into the homestretch before making a three-wide sweep around the tiring pacesetters on his way to a dominating victory.

The Engler trainee ran a mile over a 'good' turf course in 1:38.18. Perfect Silent Cat, the 23-1 longest shot on the board ridden by Wilmer Garcia, rallied from last in the six-horse field to finish second. Bright Devil held third, four lengths behind the runner-up. King of Dreams faded to fifth.

Fighting Force, formerly trained by Todd Pletcher, broke his maiden in December at Gulfstream, finished second in the Dania Beach, and checked in a close fourth in the Palm Beach for the principals of Coolmore before being privately purchased by Lea Farm. The Kentucky-bred colt finished off the board in the Cutler Bay after bumping at the start in his first race for his new connections. He went on to finish fourth following an extremely wide trip in the English Channel prior to finishing fourth in an optional claiming allowance, in which he sat off a slow pace and was unable to show the kick that powered him to victory Saturday.

“He's a nice horse. He does everything right. He trains good and eats good. He likes what he does,” Engler said. “Honestly, those last three races, if you go back and watch them, were just awful trips. He got stuck on the rail or just got behind horses and couldn't go anywhere. We always knew it was there. He just needed a trip and luckily we got it.”

Fighting Force may make his next start at Del Mar, where Engler is planning to send eight horses for the upcoming meet.

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