Eighttofasttocatch tries to close out career by becoming millionaire

Few horses race through their 8-year-old seasons, especially when they start racing at age 2. Fewer still run for the same owner and trainer the entire time. Eighttofasttocatch has done both.

Eighttofasttocatch will make his 49th and final start Saturday at Laurel Park in the $100,000 Jennings Handicap, a Maryland-bred race he has won the past three years and will be favored to win again. A fifth-place finish or better will give him more than $1 million in earnings.

The significance of this is not lost on trainer Tim Keefe, who has guided Eighttofasttocatch’s career since 2007.

“It’s very rare to have a horse from the beginning, as a yearling, and keep them their entire career, earn a million dollars, and end on such a high note,” Keefe said early this week.

Eighttofasttocatch is a Maryland-bred and was sired by the state’s perennial sire leader, Not for Love. The bulk of his success has come at Laurel, where he is 14 for 33. He is 1 for 10 out of state and 1 for 5 at Pimlico.

Eighttofasttocatch was not exactly a ball of fire early on. He didn’t start in a stakes until late in his 4-year-old campaign and didn’t win one until his breakout season at 5 when he won 5 for 10 starts and earned more than $250,000.

He has won a total of 11 stakes, including the Maryland Million Classic in 2011, 2013, and 2014.

“He was slow to mature and in year 5 it just clicked and he got to where he is now,” Keefe said. “There was no one reason. It sounds silly, but his pet goat has done a lot for him and gives him a real sense of security.

“His exercise rider, Peter Brown, has been with him for most of his career and deserves credit. He’s not the easiest horse to ride, but Peter makes it look easy. We also took the blinkers off. It was a combination of a lot of things.”

Eighttofasttocatch is not the first horse to have a long, successful career for Keefe. He trained Celtic Innis, a winner of five stakes and $650,000, from 2004 to 2010.

“I attribute it to the owners giving me the time to do what I need to develop a horse,” Keefe said. “There’s two ways to go with a horse. You can try to squeeze what you can from them or, if the owners are willing to devote the time and money, you can develop them.”

Eighttofasttocatch was owned by Arnold and Sylvia Heft until Arnold died last March at age 94. He now races for Sylvia.

“Arnie was the one into sports,” Keefe said. “He was a minor league ballplayer, an NBA referee. At one time he owned the Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) and the Capital Centre. Since he passed away, we’ve slowly whittled down their holdings.”

According to Keefe, Eighttofasttocatch would be capable of racing next year, but this is the proper time to retire him.

“He’s a very sound horse,” he said. “We took some chips out early in his career but nothing since. Sylvia’s not in good health and we’re closing out the estate.”

After the Jennings, Eighttofasttocatch will head to Keefe’s Maryland farm, where his wife, Rumsey, will begin training Eighttofasttocatch for a second career as a three-day event horse. He will be schooled in dressage, show jumping, and cross-country jumping and could begin competing by next summer.

“I think he’s going to be very good at it,” Keefe said. “He’s a lovely mover, has a great brain, and is very athletic.”

Don’t be surprised if it takes Eighttofasttocatch a while to get the hang of his new profession, but once he does, watch out.