"Excessive Passion" Wins the Sam J. Whiting Memorial Handicap Race on Last Day of the Fair

It figured to be a flat-out sprint between Excessive Passion and Goggles McCoy in the $50,000 Sam J. Whiting Memorial Handicap on Sunday, the closing day of the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton.

But few thought it would be as fast as it turned out in the early going.

“It was kind of fun to watch that first half, wasn’t it,” said Jeff Bonde, the trainer of Excessive Passion.

“They were going ridiculously fast.”

Indeed. Through early splits of 21.4 and 44-flat through the first half mile, the two putting an incredible gap of eight links on the field in just the first quarter mile of the race.

But as is the case often times when two horses go out that fast, one blinks and the other is gone, which is exactly what happened, as Excessive Passion put away Goggles McCoy on the turn, then held off a fast-closing Rooster City and Scofield Barracks to win the race in 1:09.8.

“I didn’t want to let the other horse go off nice and easy,” said Frank Alvarado, the jockey on Excessive Passion.

“I tried to sit mine back and get a little breath for a while.”

After Alvarado and Excessive Passion put away Goggles McCoy, the lone question remaining was did they have any gas in the tank for the finish.

“When they go out 21.2 and 44 flat, you only hope he had not done too much,” said Bonde.

Rooster City finished second with Scofield Barracks third.

Whatsthescript and Goggles McCoy rounded out the five-horse field.

The win was the fourth in seven career starts for Excessive Passion, who also has a win over Smiling Tiger – arguably the top sprinter in the country – in April 2010 in the Harry Henson at Hollywood Park.

The last time he raced, Excessive Passion was a badly beaten 7^th in a $200,000 race at Santa Anita in late January.

“He’s a very talented horse and that’s why we’ve been patient because he’s so talented,” said Bonde.

“We brought him back up here to patch him up. This was a nice spot for him and the date worked out well.”