Silver Spoon, Devil Diver, and Assault

[Calzone Lord]

The filly Silver Spoon debuted as a 2-year-old going 6 furlongs at Belmont Park in a field of 28 horses for $8,000 maiden claimers.

She blew them away and won by six lengths at odds of 18-to-1.



A pretty nice filly was Silver Spoon -- she won the Santa Anita Derby by 2.5 lengths over the males. Since 1940, only two fillies have won the SA Derby, Silver Spoon and Winning Colors.

Here is Silver Spoon on the cover of Sports Illustrated.




Note the competition she faced in her 7 furlong ALW race!

* The winner, Sword Dancer, was beaten a nose in the Kentucky Derby. He won the Met Mile by 3.5 lengths as a 3yo against older horses. He also won the Travers and beat the great older horse Round Table while winning both the Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup at age 3. He is a Hall of Famer.

* The 2nd place finisher Easy Spur, had swept the Hutchenson, The Fountain of Youth (by 8 lengths) and the Florida Derby in his three prior starts. He dominated at Gulfstream.

* The aforementioned Silver Spoon finished 3rd and suffered the first defeat of her career. She was a Hall of Famer. She was beaten just 3.25 lengths in a strong Kentucky Derby. As a 4yo she was beaten just 2.5 lengths in the Santa Anita Handicap and carried 10lbs more than the older MALE that won the race.

* On-And-On finished 4th in that ALW race. He made over $390,000 in the late 1950's and 1960. Won several important races. He sired Derby and Preakness winner Forward Pass. On-And-On was also the sire of Sweet Tooth (Alydar's mother)

Now that is a tough alw race that Silver Spoon lost her undefeated record in.

[Calzone Lord]

Here is Devil Diver's past performances.




Note that Devil Diver broke his maiden as a 2-year-old at Saratoga in a MSW race with a field of 19 horses.

Yes, imagine the horror, 19 early season 2-year-old maidens sprinting around a turn!

Why, the poor bettors, and it's lucky jockeys weren't routinely paralyzed in such dangerous events.

Devil Diver won 22 of 47 lifetime races. He's the only horse in history to win the Met Mile 3 years in a row. He won the Met at ages 4, 5, and 6.

Note the worktab on Devil Diver leading into the Kentucky Derby. He worked 9 furlongs on April 26th. He worked 10 furlongs on April 28th. And he worked 5 furlongs on May 1st. The Kentucky Derby was the following day (May 2nd) and he also ran in the Preakness on May 9th. Tough horse.

He was much better at ages 4, 5, and 6.

[Calzone Lord]

This is the chart of a maiden special weight race for 2yo's at Belmont Park on June 23rd 1945 featuring a field of 23 going 4.5 furlongs.




Future triple crown winner Assault sprinted out to a big early lead... but the 4.5 furlong distance was his undoing, as he was easily passed late by future Saratoga Special winner Mist O' Gold.

The next time Assault and Mist O' Gold met on the Widner Course was in the Flash Stakes. This time, Assault won by a nose at odds of 70/1. Mist O' Gold was 2nd.

[Indian Charlie]

Silver Spoon's daughter Inca Queen was a pretty good producer.

I don't recall when looking over old pps before that they would omit the horse that's pps are being show, from the order of finish list.

[Calzone Lord]

Prior to the 1960's -- that's how the DRF's did it.

Amazing to think you could have claimed Silver Spoon for 8K in that debut of hers with the 28 horse field.

Here is a list of every single filly to race in the Kentucky Derby since 1945:

2010 Devil May Care
2008 Eight Belles
1999 Excellent Meeting
1999 Three Ring
1995 Serena's Song
1988 Winning Colors
1984 Life's Magic
1984 Althea
1982 Cupecoy's Joy
1980 Genuine Risk
1959 Silver Spoon

Tell me that isn't an awesome collection of fillies!

Unbelievably, from 1945 to 1979 -- the only filly to run in the Kentucky Derby was Silver Spoon.

And now you have people who think we need to make special rules to keep fillies out of the Derby.

[Linny]

When Devil Diver broke his maiden over 18 rivals, he'd already been barely beaten in a similar sized field, 4 DAYS PRIOR. Imagine if that happened today. The idiots on the interwebs would be calling for John Gaver's head!

Nice prices on eventual TC winner Assault.