Tenacious Heat Spoils Outback Andy’s Gr.1 Suffix Party

It was supposed to be the Outback Andy show in Newmarket on Saturday in the Grade 1 Suffix at a mile on the turf course, but how quickly can horse racing turn us on our ears and either humble us or glorify us?

Just ask the trainers of Outback Andy and Tenacious Heat, and they’ll tell you.

Tenacious Heat, the four year old California-bred son of Unusual Heat, spoiled the top-ranked Outback Andy’s party at Newmarket this weekend with a stunning, drop-in-from-out-of-the-clouds ¼ length win over Don’t Drop A Deuce, to score in the the $500,000 Grade 1 Suffix, one of the premier mile turf events of England’s summer racing festival.

“What can I say?” said John of Tulloch Stables, who owns Outback Andy. “Of course I’m disappointed. We weren’t beaten by a better horse on the day. We were beaten by four better horses. It was a red hot field. Tenacious Heat was brilliant, and Don’t Drop a Deuce ran a great front runners’ race.”

Outback Andy, a five year old son of Street Cry, was not just edging toward being the premier turf miler on the planet. He was already there.

After two smoking hot wins in the $2 million Grade 1 Sydney Mile and the Grade 1 Queen Sam in nearby Berkshire, a race he won last year, Outback Andy was sitting pretty atop the world turf miler rankings.

But the racing gods were not kind to Outback Andy on Saturday.

John admitted in an interview before the race that Outback Andy was only ready to go before Saturday’s race, but he also said that Outback Andy had won big races like that before.

And the owner of Tulloch Stables knew it was a monster field he was going up against in Newmarket this weekend, despite the fact that the Equinics were held the weekend preceeding the Grade 1 Suffix.

“The race didn’t turn up as weak as I thought it would,” said John in that Tuesday interview in the BTB.

Boy, John wasn’t kidding. There were no less than eight graded winners in that 11-horse Suffix field, and there were also some huge names in that race.

Don’t Drop a Deuce rushed out to some scorching hot fractions, a pace that Outback Andy should have relished, being the late closer that he is.

But all of a sudden, from out of nowhere, there was Tenacious Heat, who is owned by padrebri of Conquest Farms, to steal not only Outback Andy’s thunder but also pull some major grand larceny in a race that surely looked like it was Don’t Drop A Deuce’s to win.

Don’t Drop A Deuce, a five year old son of Giant’s Causeway owned by Equifaux By Donny Stables, set fractions of 45.11 for the four furlongs, 1:07.96 for the six furlongs, and he kept up that hot pace all the way to the wire.

Don’t Drop A Deuce almost broke the almost unheard of 1:20 barrier for the seven furlongs in the mile turf race, but he still couldn’t win. Donny Beisbol, who owns Equifaux By Donny Stables, had to be thinking, “What more do I have to do to win?” after watching his colt blow a three-length lead at the top of the stretch to finish a game but disheartening second.

“So how about that Tenacious Heat!?” asked Brian (padrebri), who owns Tenacious Heat. “Good stuff right there. I just had a feeling that he was due to pop a big one. He’s kinda like that. He runs a couple inexcusable clunkers, and then he goes out and rips off a sensational run.”

Brian wasn’t kidding. The four year old Tenacious Heat had just come off some pretty disastrous efforts in both the Grade 1 Sydney Mile and the Grade 2 Yasuda Mile in Japan, but he definitely got his act together in Newmarket this weekend when he dropped a dime on Don’t Drop A Deuce, to just get up at the wire for the narrow win.

“That win put him over $2 million in earnings and I’m sure that puts him in my Top 5 of all-time,” said Brian.

Tenacious Heat had not won a race this big since he was a three year old, when he smoked the field in the Grade 1 2000 Guineas for three year olds, a race his dam, Tenacious V won back in 2006, when she beat the boys here in Newmarket.  It looked like Tenacious Heat’s career was in the toilet after his last two efforts.

Tenacious Heat popped a 113 speed figure in the Suffix triumph, winning the grade 1 mile turf race in a time of 1:33 4/5. That 113 speed figure, by the way, tied a career high for the four year old California-bred Tenacious Heat. He also ran a 113 in a grade 2 win back in September of last year.

But John of Tulloch Stables was offering no excuses for Outback Andy’s performance this weekend, a performance that saw him finish fifth in the eleven-horse field. He just never got into the bit late, like he usually does, and that late-closing monster running style of his never materialized.

“Nope. No excuses,” said John. “He got a bit further back than normal, but not so far back that I’d lost hope. He just didn’t ping, and when that happens…well, you know. One placing from ten defeats isn’t real flash, is it?”

Outback Andy had been flashing his stuff greatly in his last two outings, and he’s still at the top of the turf miler rankings, despite the defeat in England this weekend.

John said he had no plans to change Outback Andy’s schedule. “He’s come back a bit groggy,” said John, “but we’ve got seven weeks to get him to Canada, then on to the Breeders’ Bowl.”  It‘s a race that John would love to win after finishing fifth there last year with Outback Andy.

Tenacious Heat, after throwing two bad races, paid handsomely to those who believed in him at the betting windows. The Cal-bred returned $21.30, $9.60 and $6.70 to his backers, after he was sent off as nearly a 10-1long shot in the Grade 1 Suffix field.

The 6-3 exacta, with Don’t Drop A Deuce second returned a pretty hefty $228.70. And the 6-3-8 trifecta with Payment Pending returned an astounding $2,681.40.

That trifecta payout was so large because it included three of the five longest shots in the field in Newmarket this weekend.