Trainer Bentley Combs' first claim of the 2023-2024 meeting came with intent.
Combs, on behalf of owners Charles Gerber and Workman Ranch, took Toma Todo out of a victory in Friday's second race for $7,500. Combs was looking ahead, but not to January, February, March or April. The date Combs already has circled is May 4. The race Combs already has circled is the 1 ¾-mile Trail's End starter-allowance marathon, traditionally the final race of the Oaklawn meeting. Combs and owner Ten Strike Racing (Marshall Gramm) have won the race the last three years with Original Intent (2021 and 2022) and Hellorhighwater (2023).
The Trail's End, recently, has been restricted to horses that have started for a claiming price of $10,000 or less in the last two years. It had a hefty $125,000 purse last season.
“We've been looking all over,” Combs said late last month. “With Churchill changing their bottom of the barrel to ($12,500), it's been tough to find a starter $10,000 horse. You can ask Marshall. I've been looking at every overnight. I've been looking at Laurel, Parx, New York, everywhere, trying to find a Trail's End horse.”
The addition of Toma Todo, Combs said, means he has two potential Trail's End candidates. El Franco, a $16,000 claim Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs, is scheduled to test $10,000 starter-allowance company next month, Combs said. El Franco is a son of millionaire Tapiture. Toma Todo is by grass champion English Channel, who flourished at longer distances.
“I do like the little horse we claimed yesterday in Toma Todo,” Combs said in a text message Saturday. “Physically, he doesn't fit the bill because he's on the smaller side, but he's won at (1 1/8 miles) at (Oaklawn) before. Gonna run him in a starter ($10,000) … and see what we've got.”
Combs said he has 10 stalls this season at Oaklawn after winning 40 percent of his starts (8 for 20) at the 2022-2023 meeting. In addition to the Trail's End, Hellorhighwater won three other starter-allowance races at the meeting.
David Vance (1972-1974) is the only other trainer to win the Trail's End three consecutive times.
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