Best of 2025: New York-bred mare Sterling Silver reaches millionaire status
To celebrate a remarkable year of racing action on the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit, the NYRA Press Office checked in with a selection of trainers, owners, jockeys and racing personalities to share their reflections on the memorable year.
On October 25, the 6-year-old New York-bred Sterling Silver, who is owned by Mark T. Anderson and trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, shined brightly on the annual Empire Showcase Day card at Belmont at the Big A with a late-flying victory in the state-bred Iroquois.
The win bookended her 2025 season in New York with state-bred stakes scores after kicking off her campaign with success in the April 6 Biogio’s Rose at Aqueduct. Even better, her decisive win in the Biogio’s Rose pushed her career bankroll past the $1 million mark and her win in the Iroquois, which she also took in 2023, increased her total of state-bred stakes triumphs to six.
Her year included a credible third place finish in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom, which she was competing in for the fourth straight year while finishing in the money each time, and a strong second in the Grade 2 Ruffian, where she rallied from off the pace but just missed by three-quarters of a length.
The multiple graded stakes placed Sterling Silver, a daughter of Cupid out of the Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor, was bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort and she is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Rhetorical. She is an earner of $1,253,051 to date, making her one of the top New York-breds of all time.
On December 10, Anderson, who splits his time between Lexington, Kentucky and Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he owns transmission and auto repair shops, shared his sentiments about the most special horse he’s had in his four decades in the sport.
Q: Will we see Sterling Silver run again this year, or maybe even in 2026?
Mark Anderson [MA]: “She’s graded stakes placed, but she actually won a Grade 2 [the 2023 Gallant Bloom, where she crossed the wire first by four lengths] but she got taken down. That was a real bummer. So we’re running her twice more, just to get her that Grade 2 win. She’s in training with Bill at Gulfstream [Park] and she’ll be running there on December 26 in the Rampart and then on January 24 in the Inside Information [G2] on Pegasus World Cup Day. That will be her last race. She’ll be 7-years-old in January and she is being retired. But this mare is 100 percent sound. She’s never been unsound a day in her life. She’s amazing.”
Q: You paid $13,000 for her as a yearling in 2020. What did everyone else miss?
MA: “This filly was nominated to the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings sale up in New York, but they canceled it that year because of COVID. They brought that sale back to Lexington when they had their sale and they put all those select New York-breds in front of the Kentucky-breds. It didn’t work. Everybody was all over the Kentucky-breds and they overlooked the New York-breds. I was in Milwaukee, and I was looking at the RNAs and the videos of them, and she struck me. I thought, ‘Wow. This is a pretty nice horse.’ She was an RNA at like $20,000. I made some calls and was told there is nothing wrong with this filly. She’s really nice. She just got overlooked. So I wheeled and dealed with [breeders] Mallory Mort and Karen Mort and they sold her to me for $13,000. That was a done deal. I just got lucky with her. It was racing luck. But I can pick out a pretty good horse.”
Q: At the time you were primarily pinhooking horses. Why did you decide to keep her and send her to trainer Tom Albertrani?
MA: “After I bought her, I sent her to Craig Wheeler in Florida, and he was breaking her. He called me and said, ‘This filly has really grown fast, faster than any other horse here. She’s starting to look like a pretty different horse. The way she moves is so beautiful.’ She ended up getting a teeny chip in an ankle, so I told him, ‘Don’t take her to the sale. Scratch her. Take that chip out.’ We did and we just babied her afterwards and then we sent her straight to New York and to Tommy. The rest is history.”
Q: Did you personally name her? If so, was it for her dappled gorgeous gray coat that flashes hues of shiny sterling silver when she moves?
MA: “Yes, I did and it is. I named her for her color. It just fit her. She had a silvery look. She wasn’t a dull gray, or a pale gray like white. She’s just beautiful. She’s stunning. She just had that pop and I thought, ‘Silver.’ I wondered and then I worried if I could get that name, and I was thinking of a bunch of others like Silver Spoon or Silver something, but sure enough, it was available. I got lucky. That’s all it was. Lucky. It’s so hard to get the names you want. We call her Sterling.”
Q: Speaking of the sales, you entered Sterling Silver earlier this year in the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars on November 3?
MA: “I did. She failed to bring her reserve, which was $990,000 and she dropped in at $975,000 and just missed it. So we sent her to Gulfstream straight from there. They went over her with a fine-toothed comb when she got there and said there is not a pimple on her. It’s amazing that a filly can stay focused that long and still have the fight at her age.”
Q: What’s next once she retires at the end of next month?
MA: “She’s going to be bred to [Hall of Famer and 2017 Horse of the Year] Gun Runner at Three Chimneys [in Kentucky]. It was almost going to be to Not This Time but it’s Gun Runner. You know, her [half] brother Rhetorical is running up there [in New York]. He’s by Not This Time. He’s won almost a million dollars, and he just took fourth in the Breeders’ Cup [G1 Mile]. I thought Not This Time would be good for her, but Gun Runner just stuck in my mind. It was a toss up, but you can’t go wrong with Gun Runner. It’s very exciting and I am looking forward to her babies. When she gets to moving, she’s just gobbling up that ground. I can almost guarantee that she’s going to throw some good babies. Something of hers is going to be good.”
Q: In her first start, she beat 11 other 2-year-old New York bred fillies in a maiden special at Aqueduct on November 21, 2021, when with Tom Albertrani to give you a glimpse of the glory that was to come. When Tom decided to take down his shingle, how did she end up in Bill Mott’s barn in June of 2024?
MA: “Tommy did a great job with her. After he told me he was retiring I had three or four other trainers in mind. He had worked for Bill before and he told me, ‘Only send her to Bill.’ So I did. Bill has done a great job with her, too.”
Q: How did you get into the sport?
MA: “It was 1991. My first trainer was Carl Nafzger. When I got into the business, they had The Illinois Racing News and there were want ads in the back of it. Somebody was selling a mare that was in foal. I bought her for $5,000 and I had that baby broke a couple years later. I sent that baby to Carl’s barn without ever meeting him or having a conversation. I just sent him. Carl called me and said, ‘Who are you? Where are you?’ I said my name is Mark Anderson and I watched you on TV with that elderly lady who won the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled, so I sent my horse to you. Carl said, ‘It don’t work that way. Come meet me.’ So I did and that’s how it started. We had a lot of fun together back in those days. It’s a true story. It’s still funny.”
Q: Of all the horses you’ve had in all the years, Sterling Silver is your favorite. What makes her so dear to your heart?
MA: “She is my best horse. You don’t get many like that. I had Beau Belle, who was my only other graded stakes placed horse, but this one is very special. I can tell you one thing, and everybody that puts their hand on her says the same thing. She’s like an old soul. She never has tried to kick anyone or hurt anyone. When she’s in the paddock and walks out to the race, she’s so calm she looks like an old plow horse. But once she gets on that track and starts warming up, she’s all business. It’s like everything clicks on. This horse just does everything right. She’s perfect. You could pick her feet and drop the shank and she’s perfect. You can do anything around this horse. She knows her job, and she knows where that finish line is. I’ve put a couple of other horses out on the track and there’s no excitement with them. But when she’s out there, you’re always so excited. She always shows up. She’s picture perfect. And she’s a lot of fun. She is the best of New York, she really is.”
Q: What are your thoughts on the New York-bred program overall?
MA: “I love every part of it. I’m so happy with it and how far it’s come. It’s a great program. Who else has a better program than that? I really don’t know of another program that’s better and I’ve been doing this a long time. The incentives are great. It’s beautiful money. I also love coming up there and going to the tracks and going to the different restaurants after the races. I love all the getaways after the races, whether in Queens or in Saratoga. The people are great, they welcome me like I’m a New Yorker.”
Q: You run your horses at different tracks around the country. Are you eagerly anticipating watching them compete at the new Belmont Park?
MA: “Of course. I’m very excited. The old Belmont was so big, and I can imagine what it was like back in the old days when people had no place else to gamble so they all went to the track. It would be so cool to go back in its heyday and see it like that. Now with this new place they’re building I bet it’s going to beautiful, and it will be totally useful. It will be exciting, and I am looking forward to it.”
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