Smart Silky maintains Wachman’s winnng run

David Wachman, who has now won the race four times in six years, introduced a potentially smart prospect, Silky, to make a winning debut in last night’s opener in Clonmel, the Irish Stallion Farms Fillies Maiden.

A daughter of Montjeu, Silky showed definite signs of inexperience on the fast ground and tight track, but knuckled down well for Billy Lee in the closing stages to get the better of the Pat Smullen-ridden favourite Sharp Crisp Air, which had attempted to make all. A length and a quarter separated them at the line, the pair finishing six and a half lengths clear of the third.

Winning trainer Wachman commented: “She’s a nice big filly and we decided last year to take our time with her. She needs good ground, so we had to wait. But she could be nice and will run in some of the good mile-and-a-half fillies races, like the ‘Noblesse’ and the ‘Give Thanks’.