Bridgmohan Takes Classic In Near Record

CHICAGO, Illinois (CMC):

Jamaican jockey Shaun Bridgmohan won the US$125,000 Arlington Classic Stakes when he produced a front-running effort with 3-5 favourite Silver Max to win the co-feature at Arlington Park by two lengths here Saturday.

Going 1-1/16th miles, Bridgmohan and the three-year-old bay colt made all the running to complete the trip in a speedy one minute, 41.87 seconds, which was just outside the 20-year-old track record of 1:41 flat.

Silver Max burst from the gates, stumbled, but then rocketed to the lead along the rails, stretching his advantage down the backstretch before producing a strong finish in the stretch to hold off the field.

"He broke so fast that the ground just broke out from under him. I can see why he makes the lead all the time. He's a great gate horse," said Bridgmohan.

"They told me to let him go. With him, he just wants to be in front. But he's not uncontrollable. He relaxes pretty well once he gets to the lead."

Silver Max sprinted the quarter-mile in 22.97 seconds to be 21/2 lengths clear and covered the half-mile in 46.74 to maintain his lead on the field.

In the stretch, Sachem Spirit came to challenge, but Bridgmohan kept the bay colt to task with an urgent right-handed whip to claim victory easily in the end.

"I think he'll go on farther. I had a lot of horse from the eighth pole home," Bridgmohan noted.

The win for Silver Max was his fourth straight, with the last three wins coming in added-money outings.