Coming into this past weekend, veteran trainer Tom Rycroft didn’t have a stakes winner in his barn at Century Mile.

Exiting the weekend Rycroft now has two of them.

First, Silent Runner silenced the crowd when he won the $50,000 Spangled Jimmy at odds of 32-1.

Then, Rycroft, 84, learned that last year’s Alberta Horse of the Year American Blaze is on his way back to Edmonton.

“Pretty good weekend,” said Rycroft, who never seems to get too high or too low.

“Won the stake and got the good news that American Blaze is coming back.

“I might have to run both horses together in the same races. That’s not good but on the other hand it could be real good.”

Both Silent Runner and American Blaze - if he’s alright - are being pointed to the Century Mile Handicap on July 12.

Rycroft claimed Silent Runner for $32,000 last November at Toronto’s Woodbine racetrack.

“Riley was the one who spotted him,” Tom said of his son, who was on a mission last fall looking for just this kind of a horse.

“Dad was looking for a horse that could run a mile or longer in allowance races and maybe even stakes,” said Riley, who is a jockey’s agent.

“Silent Runner had been running in optional $80,000 claiming allowance races in Toronto and his Beyers were real solid,” Riley said of the speed numbers exclusive to the Daily Racing Form.

“He was consistently posting Beyers of 95 and 97 which is real good.

“But he was running against the third best horses on the grounds in Toronto,” said Tom. “There are the stakes horses, then there are the allowance horses and then there are horses like him that are just a notch below.

“Then the former owners dropped him in for a price and I told dad about him,” said Riley. “We talked and decided to take a chance.

“We thought he might be a helluva claim.

“He hadn’t won a race in almost two years but he was running in real tough company.”

“It looks like it might have worked out alright,” said Tom, who got his first horse when he was 23.

“Maybe he just got lucky or maybe it was a helluva claim; it was a real good race. We’ll find out.

“The previous owners were real sad to lose him; I think he was kind of their favourite pet and they had been running him over his head,” said Tom, who has six training wins from just 24 starts at Century Mile this year.

“He’s such a nice horse to be around and I think they didn’t want to lose him.”

There was nothing lucky about the win. Tracking pace setter Sir Bregovic in the Spangled Jimmy through swift fractions of 22.76 for a quarter of a mile and then a real fast half mile in 44.77, when Sir Bregovic stopped nearing the eighth pole, Silent Runner just kept on running. The only one of the early leaders not to fold, Silent Runner ran on to a length and three-quarter win over heavily favoured Great Escape, who won last year’s Speed to Spare and the 2022 Canadian Derby.

“Silent Runner just played with (Sir Bregovic),” said Tom.

With 460 training wins for earnings of over $3 million, Silent Runner’s win put him over $300,000 in the bank.

Tom had a strong feeling about Silent Runner’s Chances on Friday.

“He ran pretty good in his second start for us missing by just a head. Then I think you can throw out his last start when he ran fourth.

“It was raining and he came over with no blanket. He was shivering. He just wasn’t right; he was dead in the paddock.

“You can tell if a horse wants to run and when he doesn’t want to run. When they’re ready they are on their toes. And he wasn’t. I almost scratched him.

“But on Friday I told my groom Cassidy Harris that he was going to run good. He was a different horse. He just looked ready.”

Tom, whose son Tim has been Alberta’s top trainer five times while his other son, Clint, isn’t into horse racing after starting out as a jockey, has nothing but good things to say about Harris or Silent Runner.

“Cassidy is the best groom on the grounds. She’s been with me for seven years. She’s sure not scared of work and she looks after the horses really good. She really likes the horses and it shows. A guy wouldn’t want to lose her.”

Or, it appears, Silent Runner.

“I told jockey Rafael Zenteno Jr. that there was a lot of speed in the race but don’t be worried about that. I told him he’ll break like a rocket and he did.

“Then (Zenteno) took him back into second and just waited a while.

“I thought (Zenteno) rode him like a champion. He rode him awfully good. He’ll ride him again in the Century Mile.

“After I named ‘Junior’ on Silent Runner he was very happy. He came around and wanted to gallop him. That’s a good thing. You don’t want a jockey who is thinking what am I doing on a 30-1 long shot.

“So he galloped him. Let him gallop down the lane a little and stretch his legs. When he came back he said ‘I really like this little bugger.’ That’s a good thing too.”

Tom said he’s never had a horse as calm as Silent Runner.

“A five-year-old kid could paddock him. He’s so easy on himself. He’s just so nice to around. He’s care free. He goes along with anything that comes along.

“He’s sound. There’s not a pimple on him; knock on wood.

“He likes going on the walker and when he’s done with that he goes into his stall, lays down, stretches out and starts to snore. Just like me.”

Silent Runner is owned by Tom, Dennis Dale and Ed Welsh, who are more than accustomed to good horses.

“Dennis and Ed had Timely Ruckus and Killin Me Smalls with trainer Ernie Keller,” Tom said of the two champions and the self-taught, tremendous trainer and gentleman, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago.

Timely Ruckus won over $618,000 taking 25 first-place photos and 19 seconds.

Timely Ruckus won four of five starts over a stretch of 2001 including the Journal Handicap. He won three in a row - the Journal, Sun Sprint and Spangled Jimmy - in 1999 and four of five in another great stretch in 1998.

Killin Me Smalls won 21 of 58 career races including four in a row in 2017 - all stakes including the $100,000 Speed to Spare and the B.C. Premier’s in the slop on a cold, rainy afternoon.

Killin Me Smalls won five of seven races - all stakes - in one span in 2015, and four in a row in 2017.

“Both of those horses were tough to out run,” said Tom.

“Dennis and Ed are good people and good for racing. Every year they put $50,000 into horse racing in Grande Prairie. They just donate it.

“They’ve also got a really good mare in Vancouver,” Tom said of Air Force, who was named B.C.’s champion three-year-old filly of 2023. Peter Morris is also a co-owner.

Air Force has won seven of 12 career starts including one win already this year.

Asked the long-shot question if Silent Runner could turn out to be as good as Killin Me Smalls and Timely Ruckus, Tom said “I doubt it. They were two very special horses.

“I hope he’s as good. It would be nice. But I don’t think he’s that calibre. You know what I mean?”

As for American Blaze, Tom said “He’s on a truck and should be here this week. I’m glad to have him back. I kept a stall ready and waiting for him.”

Runner-up in last year’s Canadian Derby, American Blaze was first or second in seven his nine starts last year winning the Count Lathum, the Turf Paradise Derby and two allowance races - one in Phoenix and one at Century Mile.

After the Canadian Derby, American Blaze was sent to Toronto and then Churchill Downs to see what kind of a horse he was.

But it didn’t pan out - although he was second in his last start, a $40,000 claiming race - and his owners Terry Hamilton and Murray House sent him back to Alberta.

“We’ll see what we can do with him. He likes Edmonton.”

STOCK REPORT - Nine-to-five favourite Missczech won her second race - and second stake - in a row when she held off late charging Big Hug in the $50,000 Shirley Vargo Handicap which was also contested Friday night.

MIssczech had crossed the finish line in front in her last three starts but was disqualified for interference in her first start of the year at Century Mile.

Sitting off startling early fractions of 21.82 and (ahem) 43.97 set by Pretty Aria, Missczech - owned by Kirk Sutherland and trained by Gonzalo Anderson - took over at the top of the lane and was able to keep Big Hug, last year’s three-year-old filly of the year, safe by a length.

MIssczech, who won the RedTail Landing in her previous start, has now won 12 of her 31 career starts.

“Big Hug ran very well,” said trainer and co-owner Rick Hedge. “Missczech was winter raced and I think that was the difference.”

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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.