Nathan Hayden's homebred Here Mi Song made a bold mid-race rally and gamely held off O Besos to win Saturday's $125,000 Jeff Hall Memorial at Ellis Park.
Trained by locally based Billy Stinson Jr., Here Mi Song was ridden to victory by Alex Achard and completed 6½ furlongs in a sharp 1:16.06
Go West and Tut's Revenge shared the early lead out of the starting gate while Here Mi Song tracked to the outside in third, just one length off the lead. As the dueling leaders completed a quarter-mile in :23.27, Here Mi Song made an early move to their outside and took command of the field into the far turn. At the quarter pole, Here Mi Song had a clear margin on his rivals but had to hold off a three-wide bid from O Besos. At the wire, Here Mi Song continued to find more and held off the late-charging O Besos by a neck.
Here Mi Song is now a six-time winner from 21 starts. His victory in the Jeff Hall Memorial added $75,880 to his overall purse earnings and brought his career mark to $675,073.
Here Mi Song is a 5-year-old gelding by Cross Traffic out of the Dehere mare Mi Vera.
The Jeff Hall Memorial is run in honor of Ellis Park's former director of racing operations who died on 2022 at the age 75.
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