Swan songing Eighttofasttocatch wins his fourth Jennings Handicap
It was a career that more than earned a retirement, and what a way to go out! Eighttofasttocatch dominated today’s Jennings Handicap, sailing home over the damp main track at Laurel Park to win his career finale by 10 ¾ lengths. The romping victory marked the eight-year-old gelding’s fourth win in the Jennings.
The Jennings Handicap has been a fixture on the Maryland racing landscape since 1923, and today Eighttofasttocatch broke the tie with Little Bold John in becoming the race’s only four-time winner.
Trained by Tim Keefe, and owned by Sylvia Heft, the fourth Jennings victory was not the only milestone reached by the retiring gelding. In collecting the winner’s share of the $125,000 race, the Maryland-bred also became racing’s newest millionaire.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Keefe. “I won’t see him here but I’ll see him at my farm. I will miss the great owners of mine, that connection, and the horse training in the morning. He ran the way I hoped and thought. This is a horse that will run on anything. She didn’t rush him out of the gate. Once I saw him around the 3/8ths pole, she was just perched up there and the others were backing up. I was pretty confident.”
There was good reason to be confident. Forest Boyce returned from riding at Fair Grounds to get in the saddle on the old boy one last time, and she was not disappointed that she did. Eighttofasttocatch did not break out on top, but made an early push to find the lead from his inside post position. He was moderately challenged by longshot, Larry Le Roi on the far turn, but when Boyce set him down for the stretch drive, the 123 pound highweight responded like he has so many times over his career. He lengthened his advantage throughout the stretch, and coasted home a very popular winner. The 3-10 favorite finished the one-mile trip over the sloppy track in 1:36.70.
“He got off just a little slow,” said Boyce. “It’s a different situation when you have a horse like this under you. I asked him a little early, which isn’t the usual, but he was very settled and we stayed close to the top of the lane. I just chirped to him and he took off. This is such a great feeling for me today. He’s been such a cool horse. The most important thing for me today was that he goes out with a win. You don’t get to be with one horse all the time with so many tracks running at the same time but we have stayed together and he is my true teammate. It’s going to be really had to not have him to ride any more. I want to thank Tim and his whole staff. They all do such hard work to make this happen.”
A son of the great Marlyand sire, Not For Love, Eighttofasttocatch will now head off into the sunset, and his second career, with a lifetime mark of 49-17-7-4. A Maryland horse through and through, fifteen of those victories came at Laurel Park.
Eighttofasttocatch will return to Laurel one more time, for a winners’ circle retirement ceremony next Saturday, before heading to Keefe’s Montgomery County farm, where he will start a new career as an event horse. Needless to say, it is a retirement well earned.