The Galloping Gray Goblin Recalling the life of an Oklahoma-bred legend By Michael Cusortelli Whether in black and white or color, the gray Silver Goblin became a popular figure at and around the country in the mid-1990s. Al Horton has fond memories of a young colt by Silver Ghost who commandeered a pasture at his McAlester, Oklahoma, farm during the spring of 1992. He was a very aggressive young colt, Horton recalled. We had about 10 other babies foaled the same year he was [1991], and they all grew up together in a 20-acre pasture. But I could always tell he was the leader of the pack. It was very obvious to me that he was the toughest one out there. Of course, at that time nobody could predict the success he d have, he added. That strapping and precocious yearling, Silver Goblin, was eventually gelded, and what success he had indeed. Following his final race on February 9, 1999, at Oaklawn Park, the flash of gray retired with a record of 16 wins from 26 starts and brought a lifetime bankroll of $1,083,895 back to that very same pasture in eastern Oklahoma, where he lived until his death 12 years later in 2011. To come up with Silver Goblin, Horton bred one of his homebred broodmares, the winning Zonic mare Molly O Horton, to the winning Mr. Prospector stallion Silver Ghost. A Korean War veteran, Horton and his wife of 62 years, Lona, saw Silver Ghost win a couple of races during one of their regular visits to Oaklawn Park. 32 Southern Racehorse JANUARY/february 2014
Lona and I started going to Oaklawn in the early 50s, right after we were married and I was discharged from the Marine Corps, Horton said. It s become an annual trip for us. I liked the way Silver Ghost ran and the way he looked on the track, and I made the decision that when Molly s racing days were over, I d breed her to Silver Ghost. The rest, as they say, was history. The Beginning of a Legend With all of his success, Silver Goblin began his career less than auspiciously he ran second to a longshot named Frosted Mug in a 5 1 /2-furlong maiden special weight at on September 18, 1993. The gelding s legend actually began in his next out, a mere eight days later, when he was stretched out to six furlongs and jumped in class by his trainer and Horton s nephew, Kenny Smith. Silver Goblin defeated a nonwinners-of-two allowance field by nearly nine lengths in 1:10.80, a quick clocking for a 2-year-old making just his second start. That second race was what made believers out of Silver Goblin s owner and trainer. The runner-up, Get Up and Shout, was a highly regarded Horton-bred son of the What a Pleasure stallion First Baptist. Get Up and Shout had broken his maiden earlier that summer at Ruidoso Downs. A lot of people around me thought Get Up and Shout was the better of the two, but it didn t take Goblin long to prove that he was better, Horton recalled. He got in some traffic problems in his first race, like a lot of young horses do, but he closed really fast at the end of it to run second. Silver Goblin was in the one hole in that first race, and he broke slow and they came up on top of him, Smith remembered. He was a 2-year-old, and I think he just got intimidated on the inside part of the track and couldn t get through. He d never experienced anything like that before, added the trainer. Looking back now, it might have been the best thing that could ve happened to him. It was a good learning experience. After his first victory at Remington, Silver Goblin put together a spectacular five-race win streak at the Oklahoma City track that included a pair of 2-year-old stakes in October, the Prevue and the $271,600 Mathis Brothers Futurity, and a pair of 3-year-old stakes early in 1994 with the Budweiser and Great West as local preps for the 1 1 /16-mile, $300,000 Derby (now Oklahoma Derby) on April 9. His streak came to an end in the marquee event, however. After stalking a quick pace set by Smilin Singin Sam, Silver Goblin lacked his usual stretch response and finished third as the 2-5 favorite, five lengths behind that rival. It turned out that he bled in that race, said Smith, a third-generation horseman whose father, Paul Smith, still trains Thoroughbreds on the New Mexico circuit. I never ran him on Lasix before that race because I d never needed to. At that time in my career, I thought like a lot of trainers did and still do, that you shouldn t race a 2-year-old on Lasix. We scoped him after all of his previous races, and he never bled in any of them, he added. But that day he bled. In the eyes of Oklahoma s racing fans, despite that defeat, Silver Goblin had already joined the ranks of a pair of other state-breds who made Silver Goblin s first major stakes victory was a 7 ½-length score in the $271,600 Mathis Brothers Futurity at. headlines around that time, Brother Brown and Clever Trevor, as Sooner State racetrack legends. As such, the mood of the crowd was subdued after the race. Dale Day, the current director of publicity and track announcer at Remington, had just begun his career at the track a few months earlier. He recalled the moment vividly. When Silver Goblin first burst on the scene he didn t just win, he won impressively, Day said. He wasn t just eking out wins by a half of a length or so, he was dominant, and he did most of his running on the front end or close to it. He showed energy from the time the gate opened, and he still had plenty left almost every time down the stretch. He d built up a big following in the six months before the Remington Park Derby, and after that race I remember seeing people standing on the apron of the grandstand who were visibly shaken, he added. He was a fan favorite, and when he didn t win let alone win by five or 10 lengths people were in shock. That was one of the most disappointing days of my life, Horton admitted. But I think he did well by running third after he d bled. Most horses would ve just dropped back and quit. Facing the Best in the Nation Horses don t have vocabularies like people do, but if Silver Goblin did, the word quit wasn t part of it. After the Southern Racehorse JANUARY/february 2014 33
Derby, Smith took the gelding to Oaklawn, where Smith has been the meet s leading trainer three times, to race on Lasix in the Grade 2, $500,000 Arkansas Derby at 1 1 /8 miles. Silver Goblin had a threelength lead at the head of the stretch, but he was run down late by both the winner, Concern, and runner-up, Blumin Affair, who also happened to run second in the Derby. Silver Goblin s connections decided to skip the 1 1 /4-mile Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, which in those days was run just two weeks after the Arkansas Derby. Running third in a race like the Arkansas Derby to horses like those was nothing to be ashamed of, but we felt we didn t have any business running him in the Kentucky Derby at a mileand-a-quarter, Horton said. The Preakness is a little bit shorter, and we d have five weeks to prepare for that, so that s the race we pointed him to. Silver Goblin ran eighth, about 12 lengths behind winner Tabasco Cat, in the 1 3 /16-mile Preakness Stakes. And that was the last time he tasted defeat during his sophomore season, as he assembled another win streak that included a 17 1 /2-length score in the $100,000 Colorado Derby at Arapahoe Park near Denver and Grade 3 wins at Fairmount Park in Illinois and Ak-Sar-Ben in Nebraska. I stayed up in Colorado with him, Smith said. We stayed up there in that high altitude for almost two months, and when we came down off that mountain, he d grown up and become a racehorse. When he won at Fairmount, he had dapples on him as big as my hat. He was really doing good then. Silver Goblin continued his streak through the first three outings of his 4-year-old campaign. He won Oaklawn s Essex (G3) and Razorback (G2) handicaps, both preps for the Grade 1, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap, the track s signature race for older horses. It was the Oaklawn Handicap where Silver Goblin s win streak, which had reached eight races, ended. But it took a Hall of Famer named Cigar, owned by the late aviation magnate Allen Paulson, to stop it. In the mid-1990s, Cigar made headlines by putting together a memorable streak of his own. Cigar s 2 1 /2-length win over Silver Goblin in the Oaklawn Handicap, while he was giving the Oklahoma-bred just one pound on the weight scale, was victory number six in what eventually became a 16-race run. There s a porch-like area at Oaklawn from where the owners and trainers can watch their horses race, Horton said. I went out before the post parade of that race, and Mr. Paulson was standing next to me. I introduced myself to him, and we visited for a while. He asked me which horse I had in the race, and I told him, Horton added. He then showed me a straight $200 exacta ticket in which he had his horse on top and Silver Goblin second. He told me, This is how highly I think of your horse. This is the only bet I made on this race. I was tickled to death about that and that Silver Goblin ran second, because he ran a heck of a race, continued Horton. He outran Concern and Best Pal, and there was another horse in there, Urgent Request (Ire), who d earned a lot of money. There were five millionaires in that race, and Goblin s money that day ($150,000) put him over a million. It was just a strong field. Oaklawn Park Silver Goblin won two graded stakes at Oaklawn Park and ran a game second to Horse of the Year Cigar in the Grade 1 Oaklawn Handicap. Coming Back for More Silver Goblin s success at Oaklawn two graded stakes wins and a second in a Grade 1 gave Horton and Smith the encouragement they needed to send the gelding to Belmont Park in New York for another prominent race, the Grade 1, $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap, better known as the Met Mile. Silver Goblin sustained a fractured cannon bone in that race and finished last as the 7-5 favorite and 120-pound highweight. At the time, his owner and trainer thought that was it, that the gelding s successful career was over. They turned him out, thinking Silver Goblin would live out his remaining years at Horton s farm. But Silver Goblin had other ideas. We put him in a five-acre paddock out by a highway that goes past our farm, and he d chase after the cars, Horton recalled. Goblin was exercising himself. He d get to one end of the pasture and run down to the other end, as if he was running down by the rail at a racetrack. After about six months, they called me and told me he was going crazy, Smith said. There were other horses in that paddock with 34 Southern Racehorse JANUARY/february 2014
him, and they told me they had to move those horses out because he was chasing them all over. It was clear to everybody that he wanted to race again. I took him back and he got to doing pretty good, but he wasn t anywhere near the horse he d once been, added the trainer. To be sure, Silver Goblin s graded stakes-winning days were behind him. But during his 7-year-old season in 1998, the gelding won a couple of allowance routes at Lone Star Park and finished second in a $50,000 stakes. Handicappers still respected him, as he was sent to post as the heavy favorite in both of those wins. SILVER GOBLIN S LEGACY Owner and Breeder - Al J. Horton Trainer - Kenny Smith Jockeys - Dale Cordova (25 races) and Tim Doocy (one race) Starts - 26 Wins - 16 Seconds - 4 Thirds - 3 Stakes Wins - 11 Graded Stakes Wins - 4 (Razorback Handicap [G2] and Essex Handicap [G3], Oaklawn Park; Omaha Gold Cup [G3], Ak-Sar-Ben; Fairmount Derby [G3], Fairmount Park) The Legend Retires Silver Goblin eventually returned to Horton s farm, this time for keeps. He ended his career with a record of 26 starts, 16 wins, four seconds and three thirds. Dale Cordova was aboard the millionaire for all but one of those starts. After we turned him out the second time, I told Al that if he does the same thing he did the first time, I d pick him back up and we d put him back in training, Smith said. But the second time we sent him back, he was fine. He was relaxed and happy. He just wasn t ready to retire that first time. I had a shelter built for him so he could be protected from bad weather, Horton said. I knew I couldn t have put him in a stall; he would ve torn the thing down. I had to leave him outside, where he could take care of himself. Silver Goblin took care of himself until he died of a heart attack in March 2011 at the age of 20. One of only six Oklahoma-bred millionaires, Silver Goblin is buried on Horton s farm, about 120 miles southeast of the racetrack where he became a legend so much of a legend that Remington has named a $50,000 Oklahoma-bred stakes race after him. But before he died, the gelding received a lot of love and attention from admirers and well-wishers. I lost count of how many apples and peppermints he ate, but when he saw me drive to the end of the pasture, he d come running because he knew he was going to get some kind of a treat, Horton said. I ve bred and raced a lot of horses since I started in the business in the 1970s. I don t know how many winners we ve had, but we ve had a lot of them, and Goblin was far and away the best. I enjoy reminiscing about Goblin because he meant a lot to our family and our friends, he added. He had an incredible following. We had people who followed him from race to race. We shared him with everybody. H Michael Cusortelli currently works as racing correspondent for the New Mexico Horse Breeder magazine, and he has contributed to several industry publications, including The HorsePlayer Magazine, Daily Racing Form, HoofBeats and The Texas Thoroughbred. H Southern Racehorse JANUARY/february 2014 35
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