The filly is the first foal out of three-time winner Maddie's Music (Maclean's Music) and the colt is out of Taylor Lake (Parading), who also produced the SW Barrister Tom (Artie Schiller). Both mares are owned by David Cobb, who campaigned Sleepy Eyes Todd in the name of his Thumbs Up Racing Stable.

“We knew we'd get some beautiful babies by Sleepy Eyes,” Cobb said. “But we are amazed at how beautiful his babies are. We can't wait to see the rest of them.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd, who was a $9,000 KEENOV weanling in 2016, won the 2020 GII Charles Town Classic and GIII Mr. Prospector S. and won or placed in five other black-type events and logged a record of 20-8-3-1, $2,051,725. He stands at Swifty Farms in Seymour, IN, for a fee of $3,500.

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“[Indiana] is the perfect place for us, and I'm excited to get going with Sleepy's stallion career,” owner David Cobb of Thumbs Up Racing said.

“I could have taken him to a number of places, but I really do believe that regional breeding programs are the best game in town, and Indiana has a very strong program. I spoke with a number of Indiana connections, including Christine Cagle of Springcliff Farm and Jerri Harmon, Swifty's new stallion manager, and it just felt right to bring him to Indiana.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd will stand the 2022 breeding season for $3,500 (stands and nurses).

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Sleepy Eyes Todd, who drew the ninth post position Thursday morning, is one of a full field of 10 horses entered in the 1 1/16th mile race.
The defending champion cruised to a 6 1/2 length win in last year's Bosselman. That was just the beginning of a big run for Sleepy Eyes Todd. He went on from there to win stake races at Charles Town, Keeneland and Gulfstream before taking his act overseas.

Sleepy Eyes Todd, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Paddy O'Prado and Pledge Mom, finished fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 20 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse and then was 10th in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 27.

“It's always special when the defending champion returns, but it's next to unthinkable that the same horse, Sleepy Eyes Todd, returns having run against arguably some of the best horses in the world in his last three races,” Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak said.

Since winning the Bosselman, Sleepy Eyes Todd has gone on to earn over $1.5 million. He now has eight wins in 18 career starts and has earned a total of $1,889,825 for trainer Miguel Silva and owner Thumbs Up Racing.

Kotulak said Having Sleepy Eyes Todd back at Fonner will draw even more attention to Fonner Park.

“This is quite a treat for our fans to come see, but our off-track mutuel handle has quadrupled since all of the world watched Fonner Park last year,” Kotulak said. “But you can bet that thousands of eyes across the nation will be watching and wagering on Sleepy Eyes Todd again this Saturday.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd, who will be ridden by six-time Fonner Park champion jockey Jake Olesiak, has been installed as a 1-1 morning-line favorite, but he will be challenged by nine others who also have their eyes on winning the Bosselman. That field includes shippers Box Seat (5-1), Downtowner (5-1) Mo Mosa (5-1) and Minecraft Maniac (10-1)

Shades of Victory, the winner of the Dowd Mile at Fonner Park on April 10, is 15-1. Poderoso Equis, who was second in the Dowd, is 25-1.

Trainer Marissa Black has her duo of Blue Harbor and Mr. Tickle entered for the second straight year. Blue Harbor, second in the Bosselman last year is 12-1 and Mr. Tickle, third a year ago, is 25-1. Most Amusing, trained by Nebraska Hall of Fame trainer David C. Anderson, is also 25-1.

The giant Saturday also features a mandatory payout in the Dinsdale Auto Late Pick 5 Jackpot wager. There is a carryover into the Friday, April 23rd racing of over $110,000. First post Saturday is 1:30 p.m. CT. The Late Pick 5 Jackpot involves the final five races on the card.

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“He's a gentleman,” said trainer Miguel Angel Silva. “He feels really good to be around. Even though he's a stallion, he acts like a good friend. He's just gentle with everyone and he doesn't like to do anything bad or stupid to the groom or gallop-people. He's a cool guy and he likes the (media) cameras.”

A five-time stakes winner who has shown marked versatility in trip and track, the photogenic son of Paddy O'Prado is not considered a favorite in the market for the Dubai World Cup, but is respected by many as one they know will have a say in the outcome. He exits a strong-closing fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Riyadh, suffering traffic issues, and has won graded stakes at nine furlongs and seven furlongs.

“We didn't get the trip we wanted in Saudi,” Silva explained. “It's just racing luck and hopefully he can have better luck this time and maybe we can get the win. This time, like last time, I would like to see him five or six lengths behind the speed, but you never know what's going to happen during the race. That was the plan last time and all of a sudden we were dead-last and had to come running.”

The eight-time winner from 17 starts will be reunited with jockey Alexis Moreno, who was aboard in the Saudi Cup. While he has yet to prove himself at the G1 level, he has been successful against G1 horses with the proverbial world watching.

On the Breeders' Cup World Championships undercard at Keeneland in November, he defeated a talented Lafayette Stakes (Listed) field, including next-out Cigar Mile (G1) winner True Timber and Burj Nahaar (G3) victor Midnight Sands. In December's Mr. Prospector (G3), he turned back G1 winners Diamond Oops and Mind Control, as well as multiple G2 winner Firenze Fire. Those efforts have been par for the course for a runner who has consistently and successfully taken his show on tour, including winning last year's Charles Town Classic (G2) over nine furlongs. He will have to stretch another furlong in Dubai, attempting 1 1/4 miles for the first time.

“I would love to see him finish the way he did on Breeders' Cup day,” Silva said. “He tries his eyeballs out every time. He's a hard-working horse who's always the underdog and we just love him. He's had issues in the races, but always managed to come back and perform well.

“He's training amazing right now and he really likes this track. The transition from Saudi to here has been great and we've had no issues so far. It's a little more similar to a U.S. track and he loves to train and gets over the track. The works have been a little bit longer with him (to build stamina), but I don't see any problem with the distance. He has been, in the last couple races, one of the only horses who is finishing in the race. In Saudi, he was the only horse really closing in on the frontrunners. If anything, the distance will be good for him.”

The ride Sleepy Eyes Todd has taken the Mexico City native on has undoubtedly been a memorable one. A second-generation horseman who has worked his way from hotwalker to head trainer, Silva is not quick to take any part of this experience for granted.

“It is an amazing experience to have him and I've been trying to take it all in,” Silva said. “Hopefully we will get more horses who have this kind of quality of racing in them after this, but we'll see. We are trying to enjoy it and are going step by step with the horse heading into the race.

“I have climbed the ladder and found my own path. It has been like a family business to work with horses, from my grandfather to my dad and to me and my brothers—we all belong to these beautiful animals.”

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It is something of a better-late-than-never scenario for Silva and the 5-year-old son of Paddy O'Prado owned by David Cobb's Thumbs Up Stable.

By late 2019, Silva, 45, was confident that Sleepy Eyes Todd was a graded-stakes caliber horse. He had come back from a five-month layoff recovering from an injury to win three of four starts. The lone loss was a second to Owendale in the Oklahoma Derby (G3). One of the horses that Sleepy Eyes Todd finished ahead of in the Oklahoma Derby was Mucho Gusto, who went on to win the 2020 Pegasus. Silva said he called to see if Sleepy Eyes Todd might be invited to the 1 1/8-mile race.

“We were trying to get in but it was too late, I guess, and, we didn't have the earnings to get into the race,” Silva said. “Finally, this year, it's a dream come true.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd added to his resume in 2020, winning four stakes at different tracks and earning $540,760. The most recent of his wins was a half-length victory over Firenze Fire in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector on Dec. 19 at Gulfstream Park. All eight of his 2020 starts were at different tracks.

In his first trip to a Thoroughbred auction, the November 2016 Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale, Cobb, a resident of Pleasanton, Calif., spent $9,000 on the weanling out of a Wild Rush mare who grew up to be Sleepy Eyes Todd. The colt made his debut at Remington Park in Oklahoma later in his 2-year-old year in 2018 and came from well off the pace win by a half-length at 29-1. He has won eight of his 15 career starts at 11 tracks and earned $744,825.

“The horse has been great,” Silva said. “He's a sound horse. He's beautiful. He is easy to manage. He lets you have fun. At the end of the day we are in this business to have fun. This kind of horse gives you all that.”

Silva grew up in Mexico, where his father, also named Miguel Silva, was a famous trainer. After graduating from college with a degree in accounting, Silva entered the corporate world. It didn't take him long to realize he wanted to return to horses and racing.

“I worked in some big companies in Mexico until I couldn't take it anymore,” he said. “I'm just not a desk person.”

Twenty years ago, Silva emigrated to the U.S. and started working as a hot walker at the Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, Calif.

“I was there for a few years then moved to Arizona and worked there as a groom. I started climbing the ladder. I worked for the (farrier), the tattooer. Helped the vet. Everybody. I was trying to do it all until I was able to get my license.”

Trainer Miguel Angel Silva

Silva launched his career early in 2009 with a one-horse stable. He acquired that first runner, Glitternmeporridge, by using his tax return to claim the gelding for $6,250.

“We won several races with the horse,” Silva said. “From there it has been an amazing ride.”

Now operating on a circuit that takes him from Texas to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota and Louisiana, Silva entered 2021 with 722 wins from 4,209 starters. Thanks to Sleepy Eyes Todd, he had his best earnings year in 2020. Sleepy Eyes Todd gave him his first graded stakes wins, the Charles Town Classic (G2) and the Mr. Prospector. Silva has 43 horses in training at three tracks.

Instead of the Pegasus, Sleepy Eyes Todd opened his 2020 campaign in the John B. Connally Turf Cup Stakes (G3) at Sam Houston. He ended up last in the field of 10.

“The turf race was a mistake on my part,” Silva said. “We ran him a mile and a half on the turf and the turf was really soft. For a first timer on the turf and a first timer going a mile and a half, I think that was on me.”

After Sleepy Eyes Todd finished sixth in the Mineshaft at Fair Grounds on Feb. 15, Silva decided to remove the blinkers. Since that equipment change, the horse has four wins, a second by a head in the Lone Star Millions and a tiring fifth in the Awesome Again (G1). Silva said the blinkers made sense for a while, but that after the two losses it was time for a change.

“He is too aware of what's happening. He wants to see everything,” Silva said. “In the morning when we train him he can go to the track and stand for 20 minutes and just watch horses go by him and not move one inch. He just watches everything and wants to be aware. It's something I took from him and he was asking me to give it back. I did.

“I always say that we lost that Oklahoma Derby because he never saw Owendale coming from far outside. When Mucho Gusto tried to put pressure on him and passed him, as soon he was able to see him, he came back and beat Mucho Gusto. He was asking for it and I was a little stubborn.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd has had a different jockey in each of his last nine races and that list will grow again when Jose Ortiz rides him in the Pegasus. While Silva said it is positive that the well-traveled horse has handled many tracks under an ever-changing lineup of jockeys, he said the downside is the lack of continuity can be a negative. Since his past performances show that he has speed, jockeys may try to put him in the race early. Silva said that approach hurt him in the Awesome Again.

“We believe that we don't have the speed to beat those kinds of horses in the race, so we wanted to be in behind,” he said. “We were too close in that race.

Silva said the horse has matured and his versatility makes him effective coming from off the pace, the style he used in his last two races, both at seven furlongs. In the Lafayette on Nov. 7 at Keeneland he rallied from far back over a very fast track.

“Then we go to Florida in the same kind of race and tried not to be in the lead because they burn out,” Silva said. “Save the horse and finish strong. That's what we like.”

With a win over the track in the Mr. Prospector and more experience, Silva said Sleepy Eyes Todd is ready for the Pegasus distance and another try in a prestigious Grade I race.

“I love the mile and an eighth,” Silva said. “He already won at that distance and he performed really good at that distance. We're just hoping that we have a different kind of trip. We don't want to be on the lead and hopefully we can pick up horses at the end.”

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