OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sterling Silver will seek her fifth career stakes victory while hoping to inch closer to millionaire status when she heads a bulky field of New York-bred fillies and mares entered in Friday’s $100,000 Bay Ridge Stakes as racing resumes at Aqueduct following an 11-day holiday break.
Twelve were entered in the one-mile Bay Ridge, but at least two will come out as Khali Magic was entered back for a $100,000 allowance here Sunday and Cruise to Catalina will not run, according to trainer Riley Mott.
Though Sterling Silver enjoyed most of her success sprinting when trained by the since-retired Tom Albertrani, she also has done well since trainer Bill Mott stretched her out in distance. Sterling Silver won the Johnstone Mile by 9 3/4 lengths at Saratoga in the summer and, after a less-than-ideal trip, she just missed by a nose when second to Venti Valentine in the Empire Distaff at 1 1/8 miles on Oct. 27.
After a relatively inconsequential bobble at the break of the Empire Distaff, Sterling Silver’s main issue came around the far turn when she was stuck behind horses while Venti Valentine got the jump on her and came up on the right side of a head bob at the wire.
“It wasn’t the golden trip and she almost got there,” Mott said.
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Sterling Silver has won 8 of 27 starts and earned $917,301. While a victory in the Bay Ridge wouldn’t get Sterling Silver to the $1 million mark in earnings, Mott said owner Mark Anderson plans to race her in 2025.
Junior Alvarado is in from Florida to ride Sterling Silver.
Silver Skillet, a stakes winner on turf, wound up in this spot because trainer Christophe Clement and owner Dean Reeves had another horse, Breath Away, in last Saturday’s Suwannee River Stakes. Silver Skillet has twice won on dirt, both times over wet tracks.
“She’s been training really well, we had two fillies training well, let’s try to run one in each race,” Clement said. “This will be [Silver Skillet’s] last race, she will get a break after this.”
Sterling Silver and Silver Skillet are the starting highweights at 126 pounds.
Sweet Brown Sugar, a 3-year-old daughter of Collected, is 7 for 11 with four stakes wins for trainer Paul Barrow and Richie Rich Racing Stables. One of those stakes wins came in the East View at Aqueduct in March. Most recently, she won the Jack Betta Be Rite at Finger Lakes by seven lengths.
Stonewall Star is a four-time stakes winner, three of those coming in statebred competition. She is a four-time winner over Aqueduct’s main track and could offer value coming off a last-place finish in the Grade 3 Go for Wand after stumbling at the break.
Bon Adieu and Call Her Bluff, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Empire Distaff, are entered for Rudy Rodriguez in the Bay Ridge. Call Her Bluff has since come back to win a second-level New York-bred allowance, but she is 0 for 8 off Lasix, medication not permitted to be used in stakes races.
Lisa’s Vision, Midtown Lights, Sweetest Princess, and Golden Rocket complete the field.
The Bay Ridge goes as the eighth race on a nine-race card that begins at 12:10 p.m.
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