Restrainedvengence, eight-time stakes winner, retires after 43 starts
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Restrainedvengence, an 8-year-old gelding who won eight stakes at tracks in California and New Mexico, has run his last race.
On Sunday, Restrainedvengence finished fifth of seven in an allowance race at a mile at Del Mar in which he was eligible to be claimed for $80,000. The loss was his ninth consecutive defeat since a win in the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap in New Mexico in September 2021.
“That’s his last race,” trainer Val Brinkerhoff said shortly Restrainedvengence was unsaddled on the track.
“He doesn’t have it anymore.”
Restrainedvengence, by the Giant’s Causeway stallion Hold Me Back, won 10 of 43 starts and earned $1,024,932. He began racing in the summer of 2017 and won his first stakes in the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf at Del Mar the following year.
Restrainedvengence won two stakes in 2019, three in 2020, and two in 2021.
“He’s run 40 times,” Val Brinkerhoff said, with his voice full of emotion at times. “He’s been running in stakes since he was 3. He always gave a good account of himself.”
Restrainedvengence had three starts this year, finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on May 27, and ninth of 13 after a troubled trip in the Wickerr Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar on July 23.
“I thought his last race would be the Wickerr, but he had such bad luck,” Brinkerhoff said. “I thought I’d give it one more.”
Restrainedvengence had by far his best year by earnings in 2021, when he won 2 of 9 starts and earned $381,960. The highlight was a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar after a troubled start.
The 2021 season was delayed after Restrainedvengence threw a tantrum in his stall prior to the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at Santa Anita in February of that year as veterinarians attempted to conduct a routine pre-race blood test. Brinkerhoff was in Restrainedvengence’s stall, attempting to help the situation, but wound up in a local emergency room with injuries.
“He broke two of my fingers and dislocated my shoulder,” Brinkerhoff said. “He was third in the Breeders’ Cup and I forgave him.”
Restrainedvengence raced for Val’s wife, Kelly, and Bob Grayson Jr. for much of his career. Restrainedvengence was initially co-owned by Grayson’s father, Bobby Wayne, who died in 2019.
Val Brinkeroff said Bob Grayson is planning to retire Restrainedvengence to his property.
- additional reporting by Brad Free
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