Whisper Not Breaks Through in San Francisco Mile

Whisper Not  broke through at the graded level and gave trainer Richard Baltas back-to-back wins in one of Northern California's most prestigious races when he turned back a stubborn foe in grade 1 winner Keeper Ofthe Stars  to win the $250,000 San Francisco Mile (G3T) at Golden Gate Fields.

The 4-year-old son of Poet's Voice  came in off a March 6 allowance score at Santa Anita Park—his first win in the United States out of four stateside tries—to capture his first graded stakes by a head. Geovanni Franco was in the irons.

"(Whisper Not) broke very sharp out of the gate," Franco said. "I figured they were going a little quick up front and he relaxed really nice up the backside. Once he started eyeballing his targets, he knew it was time to go."

Longshot Diamond Blitz  galloped out to the early lead, opening an eight-length advantage after putting up quick opening fractions of :23.54 and :46.58. Three quarters went in 1:11.02 before the frontrunner began to tire, while favored Whisper Not made a three-wide bid, took the lead in upper stretch, and held off Keeper Ofthe Stars to get the win. The final time was 1:35.94 on a firm turf course.

Keeper Ofthe Stars, winner of the Gamely Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita last year, raced erratically in the stretch and switched leads, missing the victory. She was followed home by Restrainedvengence , Brown Storm , Border Town , Ohio , Kiwi's Dream , and Diamond Blitz.

Whisper Not, bred in Great Britain by Cecil and Miss Alison Wiggins out of the Dansili mare Poyle Meg, is owned by Electric City Racing, Madaket Stables, Christopher Dunn, and Jeremy Peskoff. His record stands at 4-2-1 from 10 starts, with earnings of $253,292. He made five of those starts across the pond before he was purchased by Dunn and Peskoff. He has never finished worse than third in five U.S. starts, and that third was in the 2020 Mathis Brothers Miles Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita, his first step into graded company. He followed 2020 winner Neptune's Storm  as Baltas' second straight San Francisco Mile winner. He is the first graded stakes winner for his dam, whose last reported foal is a yearling colt by New Bay .

The San Francisco Mile capped a busy slate of racing Saturday at Golden Gate, where the Ministers Wild Cat  colt Stalking Shadow  won the $100,000 California Derby at 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather track for Tommy Town Thoroughbreds and trainer Jonathan Wong with Evin Roman in the irons. The $75,000 California Oaks went to Pizzazz , a War Front   filly campaigned by breeders Ramona Bass and Perry R. Bass II, and trained by Richard Mandella. Kyle Frey was in the irons, and also had the mount earlier on the card on MyRacehorse's $75,000 Golden Poppy Stakes winner Altea  for trainer Michael McCarthy. The stakes action wrapped up with Gypsy Spirit 's score under Edwin Maldonado in the $75,000 Camilla Urso Stakes for Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal and trainer Leonard Powell.