Feel-Good Story Continues For Brinkerhoff With Restrainedvengence

One of racing's feel-good stories has another chapter waiting to be written for the old warhorse Restrainedvengence.

The seven-year-old cash cow trained by Val Brinkerhoff returned to Santa Anita yesterday after being turned out at Sunshine Ranch in Bradbury following his eventful third-place finish at 40-1 in the Bad Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

“He needed a rest,” said Brinkerhoff of the $65,000 gelded son of Hold Me Back who earned $90,000 for his third behind front-running Life Is Good and runner-up Ginobili. “He ran his guts out for us last year, as he aways does.”

Restrainedvengence ran his guts out in the Dirt Mile despite a slow start and a four-wide trip under Edwin Maldonado.

“He ran 55 feet further than any horse in the race,” Val said. “That's probably about six lengths right there. He wasn't going to beat the winner, but he could have been second (beaten only three-quarters of a length by Ginobili, who earned $170,000, almost double that of the $90,000 for third).”

Restrainedvengence won his first graded stakes when he captured the Grade 3 American at Santa Anita last June 20, and won the Downs Albuquerque Handicap at Sunland Park in New Mexico last Sept. 18 for the second straight year, this time by a nose, again wasting no margin for victory.

He won by a head in 2020.

Restrainedvengence has 10 wins from 35 starts with career earnings of just over a million, at $1,007,682.

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Fairytale Finale? Hard-Knocking Restrainedvengence To Be Entered In Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile

Restrainedvengence, the sometimes-irascible cash cow for trainer Val Brinkerhoff and his owners, Bobby Grayson Jr. and Val's wife, Kelly, will face the most daunting test of his long career when he runs in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov.6.

“The Mile (on turf) is too tough with the likes of Mo Forza, and the Dirt Mile is coming up light, so that's where we're going,” said Brinkerhoff, who has had Restrainedvengence since Day One, running the 6-year-old gelded son of Hold Me Back on turf, dirt, synthetic, in sprints and routes from coast to coast.

In 34 career starts, Restrainedvengence has 10 wins, four seconds and three thirds with earnings of $917,682. He worked four furlongs Friday in 50 seconds flat.

“It was an easy breeze,” said Brinkerhoff, who celebrates his 65th birthday next Tuesday, Oct. 19. “He'll have one more here before we go to Del Mar.”

Edwin Maldonado, who piloted Restrainedvengence to a courageous nose victory as the 13-10 favorite in the $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap on Sept. 18, will be back aboard in the Dirt Mile. Restrainedvengence won the same race last year by a head under Ruben Fuentes.

Restrainedvengence may be a cut below racing's A-List Thoroughbreds, but on the track he's all race horse. Anyone who doubts that should watch a replay of his victory in New Mexico.

Winning the Breeders' Cup would be a fitting fairytale finale.

“The Breeders' Cup is a big step,” Brinkerhoff allowed, “but we might not get another chance.”

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Hold The Salsa, It’s Gravy Combine For Foodie Exacta In NYSS Great White Way

Hold the Salsa ran down Market Alert in the final furlong and fended off It's Gravy's late bid from the outside for a victory by a neck in Sunday's $250,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Great White Way in the final stakes of the 18-day fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Owned, bred and trained by Richard Lugovich, Hold the Salsa registered his second stakes win in three attempts, adding to his victory in the Bertram F. Bongard on October 2 at Belmont going seven furlongs.

Running the same one-turn distance in the 36th running of the Great White Way for eligible New York-sired juveniles, Hold the Salsa was kept off the speed by jockey Junior Alvarado as The King Cheek led the 11-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 22.80 seconds on the fast main track.

Market Alert took the lead with the half-mile in 46.45 with the favorite Dreamer's Disease, who was rushed into contention after a slow start, in close pursuit. Out of the turn, Market Alert was kept to the inside by Jose Lezcano, fending off a tiring Dreamer's Disease who took back. But Alvarado set down Hold the Salsa from the outside, where he surged past Market Alert and pressed on as It's Gravy made his push from the outside.

Hold the Salsa prevailed in hitting the wire in 1:25.70, registering his third win in six career starts.

“I was pretty confident coming into today. He had already won going seven furlongs,” Lugovich said. “He's a pretty hard horse to gauge because he's very quiet. Coming into the winner's circle, he doesn't look like he has much energy, but he's a very good horse. He's just quiet.”

Off at 5-1, the Hold Me Back colt returned $12.40 on a $2 win bet. The New York-bred more than doubled his career earnings to $237,775.

“When he's good, he takes me there,” said Alvarado, who will head to Gulfstream to ride in the winter. “By the five-sixteenths, I was very happy with where he was and the way he was traveling. I knew he was going to have a little something left at the end. He showed up today. I'm happy to have won the last stakes of the meet.”

Lugovich said he might try Hold the Salsa on turf in his sophomore campaign.

“It's interesting because if you look at his breeding, he's probably a mile-and-a-quarter horse on the grass,” he said. “He's only a 2-year-old, so he could see that eventually. I'll see what we can do with him next year and see how he comes up. I'm in no rush with him.”

It's Gravy, trained by Kelly Breen, maintained his maiden status but has run in the money in all four of his starts, moving to 0-2-2 after besting Market Alert by one length.

Windy Nations, Prospect Mountain, Horn of Plenty, Dreamer's Disease, The King Cheek New York One, Jacoba and Jack's American Pie completed the order of finsh. Uno was scratched.

Thoroughbred action continues at Aqueduct Racetrack for the 56-day winter meet that begins Thursday, December 10 and runs through Sunday, March 28. In total, 42 stakes worth $4.57 million in purses will be offered, with live racing generally conducted Thursday through Sunday until the end of February with a holiday break set for December  24 – 27 and the addition of special Monday cards on January 18 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and February 15 for Presidents' Day.

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Brinkerhoff’s ‘Best Horse’ Restrainedvengence Chasing Graded Win In City Of Hope Mile

Restrainedvengence, the “best horse” Val Brinkerhoff has ever trained, comes back in Saturday's Grade II City of Hope Mile on Santa Anita's turf in just over two weeks from his last race, a game head victory as the 4-5 favorite in the $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque, New Mexico over a mile and an eighth on dirt Sept. 19. It was the richest race of the meet.

“The City of Hope is a short field and he came out of his race super-good, never lost any weight and never missed a meal,” said Brinkerhoff, a former jockey who rode at the bush tracks in the northwest before becoming one of the hardest-working horsemen in the game just over a dozen years ago.

Brinkerhoff, who turns 64 on Oct. 19, still gallops his own horses.

“I think getting the horse there took more out of him than the race itself,” said Val, whose wife and dedicated assistant, Kelly, and Bobby Grayson Jr. own the five-year-old gelded son of Hold Me Back, who has an 8-3-1 record from 25 starts with earnings of $625,222. He was second by a head in the City of Hope last year.

“I missed some training on him here but he ran good enough to win despite being bumped through the stretch. He should be fit now because I missed a bunch of time after I ran him at Golden Gate (in the Grade III San Francisco Mile June 14) because of a foot issue, then I missed time because of the smoke from the fires here, but he's fine now.

“He's won stakes on three different surfaces: Tapeta, dirt and turf, so he's very versatile.” While he's never won a graded stakes, the Kentucky-bred has competed in 12 straight added money races and earned Beyer speed figures of 100 or more in three of them.

The City of Hope, race eight of 10 with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Sharp Samurai, Juan Hernandez, 5-2; Restrainedvengence, Ruben Fuentes, 8-1; Majestic Eagle, Ricardo Gonzalez, 20-1; Royal Ship, Mike Smith, 4-1; Bob and Jackie, Heriberto Figueroa, 12-1; Blitzkrieg, Abel Cedillo, 4-1; and Mo Forza, Flavien Prat, 8-5.

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