Town Champ, at 2-1, held off a bid from Tuggle to win the featured eighth race in a photo Thursday at Oaklawn Park. The winner covered six furlongs on a fast track in 1:08.94. Ricardo Santana, Jr., was aboard the winner for trainer Steve Asmussen. 

Town Champ was a significant winner for Asmussen, a 10-time title winner at Oaklawn whose last win at the track came March 27. 

Town Champ set fractions of 21.91 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.23 for the half-miile, then had enough to hold off a surging Tuggle in the allowance sprint. Town Champ was winning his third race at the meet. He is owned by Clark Brewster. 

Asmussen and Santana came back and won the ninth and final race Thursday, with Readyformycloseup ($6.60).