Cal-bred News

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Silent Sighs Wins the Hard Way

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2004) -- Silent Sighs overcame a difficult trip to make her trip East worthwhile, opening Saturday's $3.6 million Sunshine Millions card with a hard-fought win in the $250,000 Ocala Stud Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park.

Sent off as the 1-5 choice, Silent Sighs bumped Wacky Patty and broke last from the rail under jockey David Flores, was pinned in around the turn, but rallied inside the eighth pole to run past Florida-breds Wacky Patty and Dixie High for a neck win. The victory equaled the win total of California-breds in last year's inaugural Sunshine Millions.

The victory continued the impressive performance of Silent Sighs' sire, Benchmark, who stands at the farm of owner/breeder Marty and Pam Wygod. Silent Sighs is out of the Bertrando mare Quiet Romance. She was coming off a 105 Beyer while winning the Cal Breeders Champion Stakes, the third-highest Beyer for a 2-year-old of any sex in 2003.

Silent Sighs, trained by Julio Canani, has three wins in four starts, her only loss coming by a half-length after a stretch-long duel with House of Fortune in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies.

"She's an amazing filly," said Canani. "Before she ever ran I told him (owner-breeder Wygod) that she will run in the Breeders' Cup. She's still a little immature. It's a lot to ship a young horse across the country. But this is a great trip to Florida. The last time I was here was the 1999 Breeders' Cup and I won (the Mile) with Silic. We won't run her again for two and a half months. The goal is the Kentucky Oaks (Apr. 30)."

The $137,500 first-place purse more than doubled her earnings of $262,200.

"She broke kind of slow," said Flores. "Those two horses on the lead got away a little bit. I was kind of stuck, but I wasn't worried. I figured one of them was going to get tired. About the eighth pole I got free. She went on and really got there. I think she had something left at the end."

Silent Sighs, who scratched out of last Monday's $150,000 Grade II Santa Ynez Stakes to run in the Oaks. She ran the six furlongs in 1:10.82