Mark Bacon finally has a graded stakes win as an owner. No doubt his son, Max, is pretty thrilled, too.
Silver Max took an early lead and coasted home for an easy victory in the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes on Friday at Keeneland.
It was the second straight victory for Silver Max, who was named by Bacon's 10-year-old son and is trained by Dale Romans.
''It's unbelievable,'' said Bacon, who lives in Louisville and co-owns the horse with Dana Wells. ''It's my first stakes win, and I just said that Dale and his entire staff have done a tremendous job with him.''
Silver Max, a brown colt, also won a starter optional claiming race last month at Gulfstream Park. He finished fifth in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 29.
''I've always liked him and told Dale, `He's going to be a nice horse, just take your time with him. He will win a stakes somewhere down the line,''' said Tammy Fox, Romans' longtime partner and exercise rider. ''He seems like he's a much better grass horse. You know, I got on him two days ago — I don't go to Florida. This is the first time since he left from Churchill to Florida that I've been on him. He's just matured and just got so much better.''
Silver Max, sired by Badge of Silver, had a string of second-place finishes last year before breaking through at Gulfstream in December. He followed that up with his fifth-place finish at the Holy Bull.
''He looks really comfortable to me. All his races on a mile and a sixteenth on the turf have been really impressive,'' said Bacon, who will be attending his 34th Kentucky Derby this year. ''And Badge of Silver (descendants), they seem to be able to run on anything. He seems to have found a home on turf.''
Silver Max, ridden by Robby Albarado, finished the 1-1/16 miles on turf in 1 minute, 41.81 seconds and won by 5-1/2 lengths over Travel Advisory. He returned $8.60 for a $2 win bet.
State of Play finished third.
''(Silver Max) is a good horse. I wished somebody would go with him,'' said Manoel Cruz, who rode Travel Advisory. ''I believe in my horse. Sit, settle and be quiet. When I made a move he responded a lot, but he was not sufficient to catch the 6.''
Monastic, the favorite, was shifted out five wide leaving the second turn and finished fourth in the six-horse field in front of 23,986 for the opening day of Keeneland's spring meet. Icon Ike finished fifth followed by Wayward Sailor.
None of them came close to challenging Silver Max.
''He has just kept improving since his first race and Dale's had a lot of confidence in him, and that gave him a lot of confidence,'' Bacon said. ''He got a good lead today, and Robby did a fantastic job of keeping him within himself then he kind of took off in the last sixteenth there. He looked really good.''
