Flute Plays Sweet Tune for Frankel

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s barn warmed up for Skimming’s effort in today’s Pacific Classic by winning the $750,000 Alabama with Flute and finishing second with The Seven Seas in the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes on Saturday.

Flute, the best 3-year-old filly in the country, set the pace in the Saratoga race under jockey Edgar Prado and beat Exogenous by 43/4 lengths.

Flute took the lead from Dancethruthedawn only 100 yards after the start and she was still there at the finish, ahead of Exogenous, with long shot Two Item and Dancethruthedawn following.

“She ran a great race,” Frankel said of Flute.

Frankel said he wasn’t sure what is next for the daughter of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, but “I just might wait for the Breeders’ Cup [on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park].”

Running 11/4 miles in 2:01 4/5, Flute paid $3.70 and won for the fourth time in six starts. Two Item Limit finished third. Flute is owned by Juddmonte Farms, which also races Skimming.

At Arlington Park, The Seven Seas, a 9-1 shot, earned $140,000 for finishing 73/4 lengths behind England’s Legend, who won her third consecutive race for jockey Corey Nakatani.

Frankel’s other horse running in suburban Chicago, Senure, could do no better than eighth in the Arlington Million, which was won by Silvano, the well-traveled German 5-year-old who beat Hap by three lengths over a soaked turf course that was listed as yielding.

Ridden by Andreas Suborics, Silvano is not considered one of Europe’s top turf horses, but he accelerated through the stretch to pass the leader, Redattore, who wound up third, beaten by nine lengths.

The rest of the order of finish in the 11/4-mile race was Caitano, White Heart, Muakaad, Bienamado, Senure, Takarian, Quiet Resolve, Compton Bolter and Make No Mistake.

Bienamado, the 3-2 favorite, had trouble negotiating the off going, according to jockey Chris McCarron.

“The other horses had to run over it, too,” McCarron said, “but my horse didn’t handle the course at all,” McCarron said. “He never settled into his usual stride. I got to the middle of the [far] turn and knew it wasn’t his day.”

Silvano has also won races in Singapore and Hong Kong this year. Saturday’s win, worth $600,000, was his seventh in 15 starts and lifted his career purses over the $2-million mark. Timed in 2:02 3/5, Silvano paid $14.60 to win, becoming the fifth foreign horse to win the Million and the first since France’s Dear Doctor in 1992.

“The pace was not too strong,” Suborics said. “We got three lengths clear at the end and everything was perfect.”

Trainer Andreas Wohler won his first race in the U.S.

“It’s unbelievable because it’s such a prestigious race, everybody trying to win it --and we came over and won it,” Wohler said.

“We worried about the rain but it stopped.” Silvano will remain in the U.S. to run in the Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 8, but is not expected to run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Astra, the 7-10 favorite in the Beverly D., was last in a nine-horse field.

“She spent the entire race just trying to keep her legs under her,” jockey Kent Desormeaux said. “She’s just too big [about 1,200 pounds], and she dug a trench around herself and couldn’t climb out of it.”

In another grass race at Arlington, Startac and Alex Solis needed the last jump to nose out Strut The Stage in the $400,000 Secretariat. Sharp Performance, with McCarron riding, finished third. Startac, trained by Simon Bray for the Allen Paulson Living Trust, hadn’t run since his 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 5. He paid $24.40, running 11/4 miles in 2:04 4/5.

At Monmouth Park, Pure Precision, at 9-2, beat the even-money favorite, Truman’s Raider, in the $150,000 Sapling.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.