United, Smooth Like Strait Top Loaded Eddie Read Field

Four major Southern California turf stakes winners are scheduled to vie in the $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar July 24. United , the 2020 Read winner, will face Smooth Like Strait , Award Winner , and Restrainedvengence , all graded turf winners at this year's Santa Anita Park meeting. The Read will go as the eighth race on the 11-race card, with a post time of 5:30 p.m. PT.

One of the big questions will be who will be best suited to the 1 1/8-mile Eddie Read distance? United obviously can handle it, as he ably demonstrated last year by a half-length as the 7-5 favorite. Yet he finished fourth, behind the victorious Award Winner, in the 1 1/4-mile Charles Whittingham Stakes (G2T) May 29.

Richard Mandella, who trains United, a 6-year-old gelded son of Giant's Causeway  for LNJ Foxwoods, checked him out thoroughly after the race. Mandella said United was fine except for "a little bit of a sore throat."

Since the Whittingham, United has posted a steady work pattern, including two at Del Mar, seven furlongs in 1:30 3/5 July 13 and five furlongs in :58 4/5 July 18. He has the biggest bankroll—$1,525,549—and five graded wins. He has placed in five other graded events, including two losses by just a head, to Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar  in the 2019 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) and to Red King  in the 2020 Del Mar Handicap Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T).

Flavien Prat, who has ridden United in all of his stakes attempts, is aboard from post 2.

Santa Anita scheduled the Whittingham and the Shoemaker Mile (G1T) just two days apart. Award Winner won his first graded stakes in the Whittingham, while Smooth Like Strait in the Shoemaker racked up his sixth stakes win.

Though four of those six victories have come at a mile, Smooth Like Strait captured the 1 1/16-mile La Jolla Handicap (G3T) at Del Mar and 1 1/8-mile Twilight Derby (G2T) at Santa Anita last year. He finished third by just two necks in the 1 1/8-mile Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic (G1T) at Churchill Downs May 1 despite his saddle slipping.

Michael McCarthy trains the 4-year-old son of Midnight Lute   for Cannon Thoroughbreds. 

Award Winner, a 5-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper   owned by Amerman Racing, spent his early career in the East. Transferred to Dave Hofmans' Southern California barn, this year he ran second twice and then won twice, including in the Whittingham.

"From day one, he just started blossoming," said Hofmans. "Each week he got stronger, he got heavier, he ate more, and he was enjoying his training. I think it's just a change in location."

Three weeks after the Shoemaker, Santa Anita offered the one-mile American Stakes (G3T). Restrainedvengence , third in the Shoemaker, returned to capture the American by a half-length over odds-on favorite Neptune's Storm , subsequent winner of Del Mar's Wickerr Stakes July 18.

Val Brinkerhoff, who trains Restrainedvengence for his wife, Kelly, and Bob Grayson Jr., noted that the 6-year-old gelded son of Hold Me Back  sometimes "can be hard to deal with." Nevertheless, Brinkerhoff has turned the $67,000 Keeneland September yearling into an earner of $768,182. 

The remainder of the field is comprised of graded stakes winners Say the Word  and Count Again , and a last-out runner-up at Churchill Downs, Vintage Print , who adds blinkers for Saturday's race.