LOS ALAMITOS, CA—NOVEMBER 23, 2019—Owned and bred by Ed Allred, the 5-year-old mare Tough To Figure once again delivered a strong performance in a stakes race with her latest effort being a convincing victory over a tremendous field of fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $50,000 Las Damas Handicap on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Sent off at 8-1 odds, Tough To Figure was her usual consistent self in the Las Damas, breaking alertly and staying on point to eventually hold off 37-1 longshot On Our Way by a half-length to score her second stakes victory of the year.

Trained by Scott Willoughby, the daughter of Walk Thru Fire by recording her seventh career win in 30 starts. Seventeen of those starts have come against stakes competition and Tough To Figure has finished in the top three in 11 of those outings. Tough To Figure first became a stakes winner in last year’s AQHA Bank of America Racing Challenge Night when she won the Stablewood Farm Stakes on November 17.She won the Ivan Ashment Handicap here on June 22 before putting together this outstanding effort in the Las Damas.

Facing an outstanding field that included the last two winners of the Las Damas – Love To Reason BR and Thermonuclear Energy - Tough To Figure led by as much as ¾ lengths with 100 yards left before hitting the wire as the clear winner in this 400-yard event in a time of :19.819.

Tough To Figure earned $27,500 for the win to take her career earnings to $183,821. In addition to her three stakes wins, she’s also run second in the 2017 La Primera Del Ano Derby and fourth in this year’s Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap. She’s also hit the board in the Miss Princess Handicap and Ivan Ashment in 2018 and in the Denim N Diamonds and Matron Stakes in 2019. Tough To Figure’s stakes debut came in her final start as a 2-year-old back in 2016 when she ran second to multiple graded futurity winner One Proud Eagle in the Holiday Handicap.

Larry Overly’s On Our Way was fifth at the start, but simply outstanding in the final 200 yards on the way to running second. The 4-year-old mare by One Sweet Jess earned $11,250 for running second. Bred by Steve Burns and trained by Jose Flores, On Our Way won the Four Forty Blast Handicap here last year and Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity finalist in 2017.

EG High Desert Farms’ Matilda Czech, the runner-up in the Golden State Million Futurity and fourth place finisher in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2017, earned $6,250 for running third in this race for trainer Santos Perez and jockey Jonathan Roman. Having hit the board in 14 of her 23 starts, the 4-year-old mare has career earnings of $434,418. The Fast Prize Cartel mare won the Girl Secrets Handicap last year.

Papas Place LLC’s Elicity, a finalist in the 2017 All American Derby, ran fourth, while Reliance Ranches’ Conquering Marie, winner of the Grade 2 Golden State Derby earlier this year, finished fifth.

Love To Reason BR, winner of the Las Damas, and Blane Schvaneveldt Handicap in 2018, was sixth with Grade 1 Charger Bar Handicap winner Thermonuclear Energy and James Smith Handicap winner Singles Cruise completing the field. Fenian Faith and Lethal Lil were scratched.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.