W.S. Farish, James Elkins & W. Temple Webber Jr.’s ALUMNI HALL (A.P. Indy)
took over the lead in the stretch of Saturday’s $150,000
Fayette S.
(G3) and continued on to take the nine-furlong fast track test by a
half-length under jockey Calvin Borel. Trained by Neil Howard, the six-year-old
stopped the clock in 1:51 1/5 as the 2-1 second choice and paid $6, $4 and $3
while starting the $188.20 exacta, $1,164.60 trifecta and $6,950 superfecta
(3-9-1-6).
On Thin Ice (Tactical Cat) was never far back during the Fayette, but
couldn’t hold off the winner, returning $22 and $8.80 as the 39-1 longshot in
the nine-horse field. M B Sea (Alphabet Soup) was another two lengths back in
third, giving back $6.40, and next came Trapped Again (Deputy Commander),
Habaneros (Tabasco Cat), Lord of the Game (Saint Ballado), Fantasticat (Storm
Cat), Mambo Train (Kingmambo) and Shaniko (A.P. Indy).
Alumni Hall comes from a distinguished family, out of the stakes-winning
Private Status (Alydar) and a full brother to 2000 Kentucky Oaks (G1) victress,
Secret Status. He also has an unnamed yearling half-sister by Dixieland Band and
now shows a 19-9-3-1 career record with $615,571 in earnings. Among his other
wins is a score in the Ben Ali S. (G3) as well as placings in the Meadowlands
Breeders’ Cup S. (G2) and last year’s Fayette.