It doesn’t matter where Ramon Dominguez goes, all he does is win.
The Eclipse Award-winning rider made his trip from New York to Florida more than worthwhile Feb. 12, as he swept all three stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, including the finale aboard Silver Reunion in the $125,000 Endeavour Stakes (gr. IIIT) (VIDEO).
Earlier on the card Dominguez rode Dynamic Holiday to victory in the $105,000 Florida Oaks on turf and Brethren to a convincing score in the $207,500 Sam F. Davis (gr. III) on the main track. He capped off his huge day back on the turf course when he guided Silver Reunion to a wire-to-wire victory in her 5-year-old debut.
Silver Reunion had not raced since the Aug. 28 Ballston Spa (gr. IIT) at Saratoga, but the layoff did not matter. The daughter of Harlan's Holiday was allowed to run unchallenged on the front end through moderate fractions of :24.08, :48.64, and 1:13.90. She hit the top of the stretch with a 2 1/2-length lead and held off C. S. Silk and Edgar Prado by a half-length.
The final time for 1 1/16 miles on the good turf was 1:43.98. Graham Motion, who also saddled Dynamic Holiday, trains Silver Reunion. She is a Kentucky homebred racing for Brereton C. Jones.
“She is still learning the game and has a lot of speed, so when we hit the front so early I had to settle her down,” said Dominguez, who led the nation in earnings in 2010. “She had been off so long and was very sharp and eager to go. When we got into the stretch she was getting a bit tired and I had to keep after her because I knew there would be challenges coming. But she did fine.
The Ballston Spa was the only race of 2010 for Silver Reunion. As a 3-year-old she won three times,with one of those victories coming in the Riskaverse Stakes at Saratoga in her turf debut. Overall, the dark bay/brown mare is 5-1-0 from 10 starts and she has earned $254,403. She is out of the Silver Hawk mare Silver Comic.
Sent off as the 2-1 favorite in a field of 10, the winner paid $6, $3.80, and $3.20. The exacta (3-5) returned $25.80 and the trifecta (3-5-1) with Denomination was worth $140.40.
