Grinding Speed Wins International Gold Cup

AERO (L) and GRINDING SPPED (R) (Douglas Lees Photo)

 (From NSA) Trained by Alicia Murphy, Grinding Speed moved into the ranks of timber stakes winners following a good second-place finish behind timber-standings leader Incomplete in the National Sporting Library Chronicle Cup at Virginia Fall on Oct. 6. He was ridden to victory in the International Gold Cup by Mark Beecher, who won the race last year with Incomplete.

Owner-trainer Karen Gray’s Hot Rize set the early pace, but Grinding Speed moved toward the front on the final turn and drew clear in the stretch. Alfred C. Griffin Jr.’s Virginia-bred Aero finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of owner-trainer Jack Fisher’s Monte Bianco. Grinding Speed ran the International Gold Cup’s 3 1/2 miles in 8:01.60 on yielding turf.