Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Silveyville Makes His Return a Winning One

Silveyville is back, and Prince Spellbound could be on the way.

Both of those horses, after earning enough money to rank fifth and sixth on the lifetime purse list of California-breds, were retired to stud.

But Silveyville, a 7-year-old, ran Sunday at Santa Anita, for the first time since last December, and won at 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

As for Prince Spellbound, his owner, Bill Pease of Gillette, Wyo., reports that the 6-year-old is in light training at Old English Rancho in Ontario and may be brought back to the races by the end of the year.

Silveyville also was at Old English Rancho, where he was bred to about 25 mares this spring. It is not altogether surprising that Silveyville and Prince Spellbound are being recalled from stud, since Old English Rancho has done this with stallions before, Fleet Nasrullah being the most prominent.

“Silveyville really never left training,” said Bruce Headley, who trains him for Kjell Qvale, a San Francisco automobile dealer. “Bud Johnston at the farm keeps his stallions moving. Silveyville retired a sound horse, so when I got him back, I couldn’t tell any difference. He’s the first horse I’ve ever had who went to stud and then raced again.”

Headley said that a week after Silveyville was returned to his barn, toward the end of the Del Mar season, the horse worked three-eights of a mile in a blazing 33 seconds. In the horse’s last four workouts before his victory Sunday, he was clocked in the fastest time each day for that distance.

Sunday’s win boosted Silveyville’s earnings to about $1,030,000. The objective is to pass Ancient Title’s $1.2 million, which is the record for a California-bred.

Prince Spellbound’s earnings stood at $935,343 when he was retired because of a ligament injury at the end of 1983. He was close in several important races that year, but didn’t win until his last start of the season, in the Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar.

Pease said that Prince Spellbound was returned to racing because he wasn’t particularly popular at stud. His listed fee for a live foal was $7,500. “I guess he was bred to about 20 mares,” Pease said. “Overall, we were disappointed. Maybe getting him over the million mark in purses might help him the next time around. I know a million dollars in purses isn’t that big of a deal these days, because so many horses do it, but at least it hasn’t been done too often by Cal-breds.”

Besides Ancient Title and Silveyville, the only other $1-million Cal-breds are Flying Paster, Native Diver and Fali Time.

Prince Spellbound also will join Headley, who will replace Lester Holt as the horse’s trainer.

“Lester is kind of retired,” Pease said. “He’s not taking any new horses anymore.”

Roger Laurin announced in New York last week that he’ll be retiring as a trainer after Chief’s Crown’s last race, the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Aqueduct Nov. 2.

Laurin, 50, plans to stay in racing as an owner. Friends said they were not completely surprised by his decision. Laurin reportedly was able to buy a lifetime breeding share in Danzig when the stallion went to stud. The sire of Chief’s Crown and other stakes winners, Danzig has quickly become a leading stallion, and Laurin’s share is now worth millions.

If Laurin is anything like his father, however, his retirement may not stick. Lucien Laurin, who won consecutive Kentucky Derbies with Riva Ridge and Secretariat in 1972-73, has “retired” several times, but continues to train horses.

“Every time it gets cold, Lucien announces that he’s retiring,” said Penny Chenery, who owned Riva Ridge and Secretariat.

Racing Notes Seven winning horses were lost in claims in five days at Santa Anita. . . . Jerry Bailey, a top New York rider, is expected to be out of action for at least five weeks after breaking three ribs and a foot in a spill at Belmont Park. . . . More than 130 early-bird nominations have been received for Gulfstream Park’s 1986 Florida Derby, which has a purse of $500,000. This year, with a $300,000 purse, there were only 53 nominations. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas could start as many as 11 horses in the seven Breeders’ Cup races. . . . An optimistic press release from Aqueduct, dated Oct. 6, reads: “Advance weather forecasts are calling for clear skies on Breeders’ Cup day.” . . . The harness season at Los Alamitos will end Saturday night. . . . The Orange County Racing Fair will open at Los Alamitos Monday night and run through Nov. 4. There will be eight races for thoroughbreds, two for quarter horses and one for Appaloosas each night, with post time at 6:15. The track is dark on Sunday.