Toomuchisnotenough delivers as favorite in California Governor's Handicap
The favored Toomuchisnotenough lived up to expectations with a strong stretch run to score her initial stakes victory in the $63,075 California Governor’s Handicap on Saturday at the California State Fair in Sacramento.
The 5-year-old Toomuchisnotenough ($5.60), claimed on Feb. 27 by trainer Jack Steiner for Dan O’Neill and Randy Marriott after spending a year on the sidelines, recorded her third straight win after running second in the Camilla Urso at Golden Gate Fields in her debut for her new connections.
Juan Hernandez, who has ridden Toomuchisnotenough in all four starts for Steiner, gave a confident ride sitting fourth while wide but in the clear down the backstretch as Marynetta set the early pace.
The 3-year-old Coniah, making her first start since Jan. 18 and first start against older fillies and mares, took over for Marynetta as the field hit the stretch, but Toomuchisnotenough seemed to have her measured and won the six-furlong race by a length in 1:09.92. Marynetta held on for third another 6 1/4 lengths back.
“Ten days ago, she got an ankle infection, and we weren’t sure if she could run, but four days ago, it got cleaned up,” said Steiner. “We thought we’d be a laying a little closer up, but we had the right jock up.”
Steiner claimed Toomuchisnotenough, a daughter of Trapper, from trainer Billy Morey, who is the trainer of the runner-up, Coniah, for $25,000.
“We claim a lot of horses and believe a year off can fix most problems,” said Steiner. “We liked her form, and she had some nice works coming back. That day there were $40,000 and $25,000 claimers, and Morey had runners in each. He won both races, but we thought he might have run her for $25,000 because he wanted to build her confidence coming back.”
Steiner spaces the mare’s races because she’s a bit on the nervous side, but his strategy has worked nicely.
The stakes victory, her ninth win in 15 starts, earned her $40,750 to lift her career earnings to $208,147.