Eighttofasttocatch Goes Out a Winner

Making the final start of a glorious career, Eighttofasttocatch (Not for Love) won the Jennings H. for the fourth consecutive season, pushing him over the $1-million mark in career earnings. Of his 17 career victories, 15 of those came at Laurel Park, with 11 of his 12 black-type successes over the surface. 

A six-length winner of the 2013 Jennings, Eighttofasttocatch defeated open company by two lengths in the Broad Brush S. to cap a productive four-for-eight campaign. He failed to handle the grass when making his seasonal debut in the Japan Racing Association S. Sept. 6, but bounced back to win the Maryland Million Classic for the third time by 4 1/2 lengths Oct. 18. 

With Forest Boyce in for the ride and striking a figure ‘7′ in the saddle, Eighttofasttocatch methodically made his way to the front under a snug hold and breezed through an opening half-mile in :47.18. He was asked to lengthen in upper stretch and wandered a bit, but pulled away with complete authority to go out on a high note. Larry Le Roi (Louis Quatorze) was a longshot runner-up, while Concealed Identity (Smarty Jones) ran third for the third time in the last four years. 

“He’s been such a cool horse,” noted Boyce, who is wintering this year in New Orleans and partnered the gelding in his final nine starts. “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 hard to not have him to ride any more. I want to thank [trainer] Tim [Keefe] and his whole staff. They all do such hard work to make this happen.” 

Eighttofasttocatch will be honored in a winner’s circle ceremony next Saturday before heading off to Keefe’s farm to start a career as an eventer.

“It’s bittersweet,” admitted 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.” 

Eighttofasttocatch made the final two starts of his career for Sylvia Heft, the widow of Arnold Heft, who passed away this past March at the age of 94. Heft, a minor-league pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1930, co-owned the Baltimore Bullets of the NBA with the late Abe Pollin and was a close friend of basketball legend Red Auerbach.

JENNINGS H., $125,000, LRL, 12-6, (S), 3yo/up, 1m, 1:36 3/5, sy. 
1–EIGHTTOFASTTOCATCH, 123, g, 8, Not for Love–Too Fast to Catch (SP, $109,180), by Nice Catch. 
($47,000 yrl ’07 FTMOCT). O-Sylvia E Heft; B-Dark Hollow Farm & Herringswell Stable (MD); T-Timothy L Keefe; J-Forest Boyce. $75,000. Lifetime Record: 49-17-7-4, $1,072,970. *1/2 to Storm Punch (Two Punch), SW & GISP, $310,619; and Bayonne (Dance With Ravens), SW, $201,783. 
2–Larry Le Roi, 115, c, 3, Louis Quatorze–Princess Perry, by Point Given. O-Richard F Blue Sr. $25,000. 
3–Concealed Identity, 118, g, 6, Smarty Jones–Richetta, by Polish Numbers. ($16,000 yrl ’09 FTMOCT). O-Linda Gaudet & Morris Bailey. $12,500. 
Margins: 10 3/4, 1 1/4, 1. Odds: 0.30, 31.60, 17.60.