Silver Charm Sold, Heads for Japan

Silver Charm, the winner of the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, has been sold and will continue his career as a stallion in Japan.

The 10-year-old son of Silver Buck, who hasn’t been a particularly successful sire at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., since his retirement from racing in 1999, was sold to the Japan Racing Assn. for an undisclosed price.

Robert Clay, the syndicate manager, announced the sale. Bob Lewis, who owned 75% of Silver Charm with his wife Beverly, said in a statement: “We received an offer that, at this stage in life, I could not turn down. The contract gives us the right of first refusal to purchase him if he is ever sold so that we can ensure his well being and provides that he may return to Three Chimneys upon his retirement.”

Silver Charm beat Captain Bodgit by a head in the Kentucky Derby, defeated Free House by a neck in the Preakness, then was beaten by less than a length by Touch Gold in the Belmont Stakes. He finished his career with earnings of $6,944,369.

Other Kentucky Derby winners who have gone to Japan are War Emblem, Charismatic, who was also owned by the Lewises, Ferdinand, and, most notably, the late Sunday Silence, the most successful sire in Japanese history.

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Santa Anita will open its gates at 8:30 today and the first live race will be run at 9:55 a.m.

The eight Breeders’ Cup races from Lone Star Park will follow, then there will be six more races at Santa Anita commencing at approximately 3:05 p.m.

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Owner Charles Cono and trainer Chris Paasch continued their recent stakes roll when 2-1 favorite Veiled Speed edged 8-1 longshot Lucky Bid to win the $75,000 Pinjara on Friday at Santa Anita.

It was the third stakes victory for Cono and Paasch in less than a week. They also won the Anoakia on Sunday with Hello Lucky and the Hidden Light on Thursday with Conveyor’s Angel.

Ridden by Jon Court, Veiled Speed, a 2-year-old Runaway Groom colt, won for the first time in three starts, completing the mile over a turf course labeled good in 1 minute 36.24 seconds.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.