Surprise finish in Tuff Gong(IRE) Memorial

In the grand tradition of the many great horses that have fed this reporter his words, Eightsixsevenfive(JPN) set out to prove something, and prove it he did, walking away with a length and a half victory in this week’s Tuff Gong(IRE) Memorial. Not only did his speed not take a bounce here, he posted a career best 108.7 speed, and also reset the benchmark for this race, beating out Digging The Grave’s 107.7 speed clocked in the 2006 season. This was the third win in a row for the four year old son of Stravinsky, and his first stakes victory. The win takes his career earnings to the $214631 mark, and puts him on the board in the older Turf Sprint division, pushing him to a 188 ranking. Handicappers who knew better than to listen to me (which I hope should be most of you by now) were laughing all the way to the betting windows here, with the winner paying $15.00 $6.70 $4.50 across the board, and contributing to some fairly nice exotic payouts. We saw an $89.20 payout in the exacta and a $251.70 in the trifecta.

As expected, Comes The Beginning(IRE) got to the front early, opening up a slight lead while being pressed hard by Dissidentaggressor and El Senor Ted. He had a slight edge at first call, by three quarters, but couldn’t shake them all the way off. By the half, he had managed to open it to a length and a quarter as the early pressure began to fade, but now he found himself having to deal with the closers that still had plenty left as they ran into the second half. He hung on gamely to the top of the stretch, where he still had a head in front. Belong To Who(KY) nosed past him, but his lead lasted no time at all, with Eightsixsevenfive(JPN) closing like a freight train right on his tail. The stretch belonged to Eightsixsevenfive(JPN), lengthening his stride to just walk away from his fellow closers to post the length and a half victory. Belong To Who(KY) finished second, and race favorite Lookofeaglesmyarse(KY) finished third, three and a half out at the wire.