SHAKERTOWN S. (gr. III ), Keeneland , April 13, 2013 , $100,000 Guaranteed , value of race $100,000 , 4 yo's & up , 5 1/2 furlongs , 1:03.02 Turf FM .

Silverton Hill’s 6-year-old gelding Havelock has certainly lived up to his positive first impressions as a foal. Bonnie Hamilton, who owns the Springfield, Ky.-based Silverton Hill with her husband, Tommy, called Havelock “Golden Boy” the day he was foaled because of his seemingly perfect appearance.

The son of Great Notion, who rallied from seventh in the final strides to take the April 13 Shakertown Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Keeneland, has now accomplished the rare feat of translating his good looks into stellar racing skills. A winner of three other graded stakes, including the 2011 Play the King Stakes (Can-IIT), the Darrin Miller-trained Havelock has compiled an overall record of 8-0-3 from 21 starts, for earnings of $525,491.

Havelock is named for a city in North Dakota where the Hamiltons attend training camps and competitions for bird hunting dogs. He is the second 2013 black-type victor for Silverton Hill, as the operation’s Swagger Jack won the April 6 Carter Handicap (gr. I) a week before Havelock took the Shakertown.

Silverton’s Tommy Hamilton serves as president and founder of the coal surface mining company Nally & Hamilton Enterprises. In addition to Thoroughbreds, he and his wife also raise Saddlebred show horses.

Bred in Maryland, Havelock is the first foal out of the winning, stakes-placed Spectacular Love mare Piconeach. A New Zealand-bred, while racing in her native country Piconeach was privately acquired by bloodstock agent Denny Boultinghouse on the Hamilton’s behalf. After being brought to the United States, Piconeach won or placed in half of her 12 starts, including a third in the 2003 Dade Turf Classic Stakes at Ellis Park.

“(Boultinghouse) had bought a few mares from (New Zealand) for us, and he liked the fact (Piconeach) was by a son of Spectacular Bid,” explained Bonnie Hamilton. “We didn’t want to put lots of money into broodmares…we thought buying some that didn’t have a lot of known pedigree but that were just good runners wasn’t a bad start for us, and it proved to work.”

Piconeach has produced one other winner, a 4-year-old Badge of Silver colt named Towner. The mare died shortly after foaling her now-2-year-old unraced Henrythenavigator colt, Henry Eight.

Great Notion, the sire of six stakes winners, stands for $3,500 at Northview Stallion Station near Chesapeake City, Md.—E.M.