Story by Jennie Rees, Eclipse Award Winning Turf Writer
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Friday, July 8, 2022) – Carlos Silva won multiple graded stakes during his 32 years as a jockey. Now he’s hoping that 20-1 shot First Glimpse can provide his first graded-stakes victory as a trainer in Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Silva and co-owner William Granger claimed First Glimpse for $15,000 last December at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds Race Course. He hasn’t won for his new connections, but First Glimpse has two seconds and two thirds against allowance company.
Friday’s rain showers were just fine with Silva. First Glimpse has run well on wet surfaces, including a good second in the slop in his last start. Orlando Mojica has the mount.
“He’s coming into the race really good,” Silva said. “He ran a really great race last time. He likes the slop. Now it started raining, I hope it still is (Saturday). He’s been training well, and I haven’t been able to get him in a race on dirt. We thought we’d take a chance.”
Silva is in his first year stabled at Horseshoe Indianapolis in the wake of the closure of Arlington Park in suburban Chicago. He has been training 11 years after winning 3,515 races for purse earnings of almost $60 million as a jockey.
“I know going in that it’s a tough race,” he said. “For me, I’ve never had a chance to run in a $300,000 race. It would be super good (to win). Really good for me, for my owners. I thought when I was a jockey that I had to work a lot. But being a trainer, it’s 24-7. You have to work all the time. If you can win this kind of race, that’s really good.”
Even hitting the board in the Indiana Derby would be huge, he said, admitting he’d be surprised if First Glimpse would actually win.
“I have to say yes,” Silva said. “I know there are a lot of nice horses in there. At first, I thought it was going to be a short field, and he’s doing really well. So we’ll take a shot.”
He said Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby at 80-1 gives long shots everywhere hope.
“Anything can happen,” he said. “It’s horse racing. It’s why you get up in the morning. It’s like a dream.”
Silva is one of three local trainers who entered horses in the 28th Indiana Derby, the others being Mike Lauer (Mowins) and Brandi Steele (New Year’s Fever). Those two horses, however, were cross-entered in the $100,000 Snack Stakes for Indiana-bred 3-year-olds on turf.
Lauer said Friday morning that he’s waiting to see the weather and scratches before making a final decision where to run his 2021 Indiana 2-year-old champion.
Steele said Friday morning that the plan is to run New Year’s Fever in the Snack Stakes. But just being on the Indiana Derby undercard, and with a good chance to win her first stakes of any kind, is a big deal, she said.
“I’m very excited about it, yes,” said Steele, who is in her fifth year of training. “That’s definitely something on my mind. I want to get that stakes win, for sure, and I think this is the horse that can for sure do it.”
New Year’s Fever, owned by former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, is 2 for 2 after cruising through state-bred maiden and allowance company. He is the 7-2 second choice behind 2-1 favorite Mowins.
“I would have to run second in the Derby to get what we’d get for winning the Snack Stakes,” she said. “And we’d like to get a stakes win. It was really the smart decision to go in the Snack Stakes. Easier for the horse. Hopefully he does well, and he can go in the Governor’s Stakes” worth $250,000 on Aug. 3 for Indiana-sired and -bred 3-year-olds.”
Lauer said one factor of where he runs the cutely named Mowins (by Mohaymen and out of the mare Prize Winner) could be if the Snack Stakes comes off the turf after Friday’s rain. Mowins has raced three times this year, finishing off-the-board in Oaklawn Park’s Bachelor Stakes, then taking third in an Indiana-bred allowance race before capturing the $100,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths. Former Indiana riding kingpin Jon Court comes up from Kentucky to ride.
“It’s not going to change the horse in any way,” he said of his four-time winner. “He likes the dirt track, either dirt or mud. He’s never run on the grass. He has no (remaining allowance) conditions. Being an Indiana-bred, they do run for 40-percent more (in open company). And being the Iowa and Indiana Derby are the same day and the American Derby was last week, the horses are getting spread out. So we figured we’d look at the Indiana Derby and see what we think.
“There are colts in there climbing the ladder a little bit. Brad Cox’s horse (Best Actor) has won two and won very impressively. Now it’s another step up. Same with the other one (maiden-winner Actuator). Our numbers aren’t that bad in comparison. Let’s see how they improve.”
Photo of Carlos Silva and First Glimpse by Tammy Knox
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