Sconsin capitalizes on speed duel to spring upset in Eight Belles

With stakes winners Mundaye Call and Four Graces tangled in a speed duel through sharp fractions in Friday's Grade 2, $300,000 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs on Friday, it set up perfect for a horse to come off the pace.

That horse was Sconsin. Sconsin and James Graham raced at the back of the pack through a hot pace of :22.11 and :44.14 for the seven-furlong Eight Belles and when the front-runners started to falter in the stretch, rushing past on the outside came Sconsin to win by 2 1/4 lengths as the 7-1 third choice in the five-horse field.

“She ran huge," Graham said. "They ran fast in front of her and she picked them off. Can’t ask for any more than that." 

Four Graces dug in again late to hold second and was followed across the wire by Never Forget with Mundaye Call. Sconsin, who is trained by Greg Foley, paid $16.40 for her first stakes win.

"The two favorites are speed horses, so all you can hope is that they hook up and kill each other off," Graham noted. "My filly was just happier today. Those two had pace pressure and we just finished them off.”

As for Four Graces,who was exiting off consecutive wins in the Dogwood (G3) at Churchill Downs and Beaumont (G3) at Keeneland, trainer Ian Wilkes was reluctantly satisfied with the effort.

"The filly was a little fresh today, but let’s not take anything away from the winner," Wilkes said. "The winner ran her race, she ran her race. That filly has been knocking on the door."

A homebred for Lloyd Madison Farms, Sconsin won an optional/claiming event at Churchill Downs in June and came back to be well-beaten in two subsequent starts by both Four Graces in the Beaumont Stakes (G3) at Keeneland and Mundaye Call in the Aug. 9 Audubon Oaks most recently.

"When this race came up on paper we sort of thought the pace scenario could work in our favor," Foley said of the Eight Belles. "This filly was very impressive at Keeneland against Four Graces. She got a great ride by James (Graham) and cruised home. It’s very exciting winning with a filly like this on such a big stage as the Kentucky Oaks."

The daughter of Include improves to 8: 3-2-1 with earnings approaching $300,000.