The $10,000,000 Horse: Simply The Best

Horseshoe Bay joined an elite group of Sim horses once again with a smashing late run to capture what turned out to be listed as the Grade I, $500,000 Simply The Best, which most assuredly deserves to have this horse’s name on it for years to come.  He charged from a fifteen-and-a-half length deficit to rally strongly and catch Confederacy in the final furlong of this marathon turf event.  Confederacy managed to hold on to second, beaten five-and-a-half lengths, while Mine D’Inverne ran a game race yet just lost a photo for third.

The race started as expected, with Confederacy indeed setting sail on the lead, receiving some basic pressure from Bane, Dela Groom T and Empire Shaker.  The leader shook those challengers off with about six furlongs left, while Horseshoe Bay began to make his move from the back of the field, more than fifteen lengths behind in tenth, and second choice Artificial Crisis, content to stalk, found his engine stuck in neutral when the closers fired.  Confederacy held his ground for a time inside the last five furlongs, still maintaining a six length lead with three furlongs left, but the last quarter-mile found Horseshoe Bay flying down the stretch, collaring the leader and pulling away from a retreating, tired Confederacy.  Mine D’Inverne, who got into the game late, finished gamely, but was no match for the winner and the early leader.  Aritifical Crisis was an even fourth, while one of the coterie of early stalkers, Dela Groom T, ran well enough with the pace to be able to hold on to fifth.

With the $300,000 winner’s share of the purse, Horseshoe Bay became the Sim’s newest member of the $10 Million Club, pushing his career earnings to $10,079,695.  A son of Red Ransom x Woodman, the brown trainee of texasace won his sixteenth career Grade I race, and his twenty-first overall win in thirty-five career races.  He stopped the clock for the mile-and-a-half race over a firm course in 2:29 4/5, which gives him a speed figure of 108.  Immediate plans have not been confirmed for Horseshoe Bay in the wake of his Victory, except that his connections might plan one helluva party to celebrate his entry into the $10 Million Club.