Pee Wee Reese Outruns Competition in Eddie D
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Pee Wee Reese wins the Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita Park
With his previous race six months ago, Nicholas Alexander's homebred Pee Wee Reese flew down the rail in the stretch of the $201,053 Eddie D Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita Park Sept. 27 to pick up his second graded score and first grade 2 event.
In the process, the California-bred son of Tribal Rule defeated the fast-closing Eddie Haskell for a second time. Stormy Liberal, the 2018 champion turf male, was able to get up for third.
"When you see the Cal-breds fall out and you see them broken, then see them at the track, you never know which is going to be a good one and which one is not," Alexander said. "This guy was nothing special for his first couple races on the dirt, broke his maiden on the dirt just barely, and when we switched to the turf, he was a different horse. (Trainer) Phil D'Amato has done an unbelievable job with this horse. He has only run 15 times, he's 6 years old, so in between races, he's really done a lot to help him."
At the start of the five-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and older, Stormy Liberal went straight to the lead, but Boa Nova shot through to take over, posting a quarter-mile in :21.41. Mr Vargas, Stormy Liberal, and Pee Wee Reese remained in close contention behind the leader as they rounded the turn for home.
Tribalist also joined in the shuffle on the turn, but Flavien Prat, who kept Pee Wee Reese along the rail throughout, was able to save ground and pull clear in the stretch as a half-mile went in :43.92. Eddie Haskell rallied well on the outside to get within a half-length of the winner, with Stormy Liberal another 1 1/4 lengths back.
"We had a good trip," Prat said. "He broke well, and there were two horses that were off quicker than us, so we sort of sat in behind them. When we had the opening in the stretch, he gave me a good kick."
The final time on the firm turf was :55.33, just off Eddie Haskell's track record for the distance of :55.06.
The winner returned $7, $3.80, and $2.80.
"Flavien had it in mind to stay at the back coming out of the jock's room, so I told him to play the break; to go suicidal in :21 is never a good thing, so I just told him to do what he thought was best, and he got him in a nice spot in the pocket, found a hole there at the top of the lane, and exploded through," D'Amato said.
Pee Wee Reese has won eight of 15 starts. He took the 2017 American Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita as a 4-year-old and the 2018 Joe Hernandez Stakes over Next Shares on the downhill turf course. He came into the Eddie D off a 1 1/4-length win over Eddie Haskell in the Sensational Star Stakes, also run on Santa Anita's downhill turf course, in March.
Pee Wee Reese is the sixth runner and top earner out of the Unbridled's Song mare Bluegrass Belle and bumped his earnings to $532,901.