Tough Sunday’s incredible story advanced via Thursday win

Tough Sunday, a 5-year-old horse with an incredible back story, added to his present-day achievements with a half-length, wire-to-wire victory in Thursday’s fourth race under Tyler Baze for trainer Steve Miyadi.

The story has been chronicled of how Tough Sunday, a 5-year-old son of Grazen was bred, owned and essentially saved by Nick Alexander.

Born with symptoms of what is known as dummy foal syndrome, the colt could not see or hear and had no nursing instinct. Both the foal and his mare were rushed to a veterinary hospital. A week or so passed without significant improvement and, facing a tough decision, Alexander walked past his stall one last time and noticed that the colt was tracking his movement and, therefore, could see.

Recognizing the fact, Alexander decided to proceed with raising the baby much like any other and, five years later, Tough Sunday has four wins and eight other in-the-money finishes from 15 career starts and over $200,000 in earnings.

“I knew all about his story from the first time I rode him,” Baze, aboard for 10 of the 15 starts, said Saturday morning. “He’s a real cool horse. I know he’s going to give me his best every time I ride him and that’s what he did again (Thursday).”

The win on Tough Sunday initiated what has been, to this point, a productive week for Baze. He notched two wins on Thursday and two more on Friday to move into a tie for third with Rafael Bejarano at six wins each in the meet standings.

“This job is like a roller coaster and you’ve got to ride it through the ups and the downs,” Baze, 35, said. “I’ve had a good couple days and I hope to have another one today.”