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High Finance scores in Tom Fool West Point Stable's HIGH FINANCE (Talk Is Money) pressed the pace during the early part of Wednesday's $197,500 Tom Fool Breeders' Cup H. (G2) at Belmont Park, took over rounding the turn and drew off to post a 2 3/4-length victory under jockey John Velazquez. Trained by Richard Violette Jr., the four-year-old finished seven furlongs on the fast dirt in 1:21 4/5 to earn his first stakes score, giving back $13.20, $6.10 and $2.90 as the 5-1 third choice. "Speed is great on this racetrack right now," Violette said. "The inside is terrific. It looked like (Velazquez) had horse all the way. He was settled; he had plenty of room inside. This horse has run two pretty hard races and he likes his races spaced. This is the first time he's run two really big races back to back." Awesome Twist (Awesome Again), sent off at 10-1, rewarded his backers with payouts of $7.50 and $3.30 after rallying from last in the stretch to take second by a half-length over 1-2 favorite Commentator (Distorted Humor), who dueled on the pace through blistering splits of :22 and :43 4/5 before understandably tiring late. Show was worth $2.10, and the exotics returned $110.50 (exacta) and $238 (3-1-6 trifecta). "If you look at 10,000 races, you'll never see that again," said Nick Zito, trainer of Commentator. "A :21 second quarter? Have you ever heard of that? At least go :44. I've never seen that as long as I've been coming to the track. The winner ran a great race. Once we cleared, I though we would be OK. But the reason we didn't stay clear is because they went the second quarter in :21. Hopefully, he'll come out all right." Rondo (Grand Slam), who surged to the lead briefly on the far turn, Will He Shine (Silver Deputy) and Istan (Gone West) completed the order under the wire while Saint Anddan (A.P. Indy) was withdrawn. High Finance entered the Tom Fool off an eight-length allowance/optional claiming victory over the track, and began his four-year-old season with a runner-up effort in the Mr. Prospector H. (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The chestnut colt moved his line to 14-5-3-1 with this win, and has now accumulated $295,850 in lifetime earnings. Bred in Kentucky by Dan Borislow, High Finance is out of the unraced Margay (Conquistador Cielo), who has since produced an unnamed yearling filly by Hold That Tiger and an unnamed 2007 filly by Beautiful Indy. The Tom Fool winner sold for $120,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling. Violette mentioned the September 1 Forego H. (G1) at Saratoga as a probable target for High Finance.
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