Runaway Ghost notches big comeback win

One lesson the late Hall of Fame horseman Syl Veitch taught some of the aspiring trainers in his employ was to have a horse properly prepared for his first start off a layoff because one never knows what that horse might encounter in his comeback race.

Todd Fincher had Runaway Ghost, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Sunland Derby, ready for a fight in his first race back from a 10-month layoff last Saturday in New Mexico. The horse chased a hot pace in the $75,000 Fort Bliss at Sunland, worked past the stubborn leader, and carried on to win and cover six furlongs on a fast track in 1:08.44.

“He had to run a little harder than I wanted him to first time out – but I put him in a stakes,” Fincher said. “That was the point of having him dead-ready and not pushing him. It took a little more time, but it was the right thing to do.”

Fincher said Runaway Ghost was scheduled to go back to the track Tuesday. He said next-race plans are to be determined for the four-time stakes winner based at Sunland.

“We just don’t know what we’re going to do yet,” said Fincher, who trains Runaway Ghost for Joe Peacock. “We’re going to go by what the horse tells us to do, what’s best for the horse.”

Fincher said Peacock gave him that luxury in preparing Runaway Ghost for his comeback. The horse was returning from a fracture to his right front cannon bone, which he sustained in one of his final works for last year’s Kentucky Derby.

The Fort Bliss was one of two stakes wins Fincher had on the card Saturday. He also saddled Hustle Up to a 5 1/2-length victory in the $85,000 Red Hedeman Mile for 3-year-olds bred in New Mexico. Hustle Up is now 7 for 9. Fincher said the ownership is meeting this weekend to discuss a potential start in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby on Feb. 24 at Sunland.