Tough Sunday takes Sensational Star triumph

ARCADIA, Calif. – The remarkable Tough Sunday at first wasn’t expected to live, let alone race, but the will to survive that he showed in his early days begat a desire to race, and a desire to win.

All that came together on Sunday – when else? – at Santa Anita when he won the $101,380 Sensational Star Stakes for California-bred older sprinters. It was his fifth win in an 18-race career that certainly didn’t seem possible when he was born.

Tough Sunday was born both deaf and blind at the farm of his owner and breeder, Nick Alexander. He didn’t nurse, and had a heart murmur. He developed pneumonia. He almost was euthanized. But Alexander noticed subtle signs that he was progressing, and decided to give him a chance. Tough Sunday recovered, and has repaid those closest to him several times over.

Most significantly, he gives off no signs of what he went through early in his life.

“Not at all,” Joe Talamo, who rode him Sunday, said when asked if Tough Sunday, now age 6, has any quirks related to his early struggles. “He shows up every race. I didn’t know if he’d like the mud today – you don’t know if any horse will – but he loved it.”

Tough Sunday sat off early pacesetter Masochistic, as well as Richard’s Boy, who inherited the lead when Masochistic faded.

“The first two went. I was smiling,” Talamo said. Tough Sunday hit the top a furlong out, opened a clear nearing the sixteenth pole, and won by one length over the fast-closing Solid Wager. He paid $11.60 to win.

Smokey Image finished a neck farther back in third. Richard’s Boy, the 9-5 favorite, tired to finish seventh, and Masochistic ended up eighth in the nine-horse field, marking the third straight race in which he has beaten exactly one horse.

Tough Sunday completed 6 1/2 furlongs on a track rated muddy in 1:15.68.

Tough Sunday was making his fourth start since returning from a 10 1/2-month layoff. He was second in the Grade 3 Midnight Lute on Dec. 30, and third in the California Cup Sprint in his last start Jan. 27.

Steve Miyadi trains Tough Sunday, who earned $60,000 on Sunday to bring his career earnings to $333,838. Tough Sunday, by Grazen, has finished in the money in 15 of 18 starts. He’s money all right.

-additional reporting by Steve Andersen