Sconsin mows them down in Eight Belles Stakes

By Tommy Raymond 

Lloyd Madison Farms homebred Sconsin began Friday’s $300,000 Eight Belles S. (G2) at Churchill Downs trailing the field for a half-mile while the two favorites, Mundaye Call and Four Graces, engaged in what proved to be a costly duel up front. As often happens, the duo tired in the stretch, setting the stage for the Greg Foley-conditioned Sconsin to fly on past. Under jockey James Graham, she defeated four fellow sophomore fillies and finished the seven-furlong fast main track test in 1:21.30.

Mundaye Call, the even money second choice, posted fractions of :22.11 and :44.14 with Four Graces, the 9-10 favorite, providing constant pressure. While this was transpiring, Sconsin bided her time from the back, saving ground along the inside before Graham turned her loose. Though Four Graces still clung on to a head lead past six furlongs in 1:08.52, the pace she and Mundaye Call set proved too much in the end as Sconsin overtook her rival and prevailed by an authoritative 2 1/4 lengths.

Four Graces easily held on for second ahead of Never Forget, who in turn finished ahead of Mundaye Call and Extra Effort. Perfect Happiness and Purrfectly Claire were scratched.

“She ran huge,” Graham said of his mount. “She likes this racetrack evidently. They ran fast in front of her and she picked them off. Can’t ask for any more than that.”

With her first stakes score, Sconsin avenged previous losses to both Four Graces and Mundaye Call in her last two starts. She was second to the former in Keeneland’s Beaumont (G3) and third behind Mundaye Call in the Audobon Oaks at Ellis Park.

Bred in Kentucky, Sconsin is the third foal out of the winning Tiznow mare Sconnie, who produced a filly by Paynter this year.

Foley, who will saddle Major Fed in tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby (G1), didn’t say when or where Sconsin will make her next start. The bay daughter of Include exits the win with a record of 8-3-2-1 and earnings of $301,512.