He was the fifth choice in the betting (and my own choice to win, I might immodestly add), coming off of a very disappointing start last time out, but darshaan <\/I>stables’ Toy Maker <\/B>ran one of the gutsiest races I’ve seen in a long time in taking the Grade II Eviscerator Stakes<\/I><\/B> in the featured 15th race in New York on Saturday. Toy Maker <\/B>broke out to a narrow lead with 10\/1 shot Sadleberry T<\/B> just a head behind him at the first call, and the only filly in the race, Pleistocene Epoch<\/B> right behind. Morning line favorite Laconia Light <\/B>was stalking midpack, in 6th, but only a couple of lengths off the tightly bunched group.<\/P>
About halfway through the mile and an eighth race it was the same set of leaders, with just 1 1\/4 lengths separating the first three horses, and Laconia Light <\/B>still setting comfortably in sixth, but just 3 1\/2 back. Right about then, Laconia Light <\/B>made his move and started passing horses, but still not able to get any closer to the top trio. Down the stretch they came, with the remarkable filly Pleistocene Epoch <\/B>staying a length off the flying Toy Maker. <\/B>By this time, Sadleberry T<\/B> was gassed and spit the bit out, fading to a well-beaten 9th. While confirmed closers Kissin Cousin II, Sinanju, <\/B>and Titan Moon <\/B>were all passing tired horses in the stretch, Toy Maker <\/B>and Pleistocene Epoch <\/B>were matching stride for stride, and Laconia Light<\/B>, now firmly in third, couldn’t quite find that last passing gear.<\/P>
In a last-ditched effort, Pleistocene Epoch <\/B>lunged forward but couldn’t quite catch the big-hearted Toy Maker <\/B>at the wire. “Ten more feet of racetrack in front of us and we’d have caught him”, Pleistocene’s <\/B>jockey CJ Anderson good-naturedly moaned after the race. “But that one (Toy Maker<\/B>) had the heart and will to hold us off. He’s a good one, but (The Pleistocene Epoch <\/B>connections) have nothing to be ashamed of. It was a great race.”<\/P>
Toy Maker<\/B> paid $14.50 to win and the exacta was a very nice $200.40. The win moved Toy Maker <\/B>up to the #10 ranking in classic distance on the dirt for older horses.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Favored Laconia Light Can’t Get Closer Than 3rd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":392,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}