Sprint Racing Returns to SA Hillside Course in Eddie D

A veteran cast of nine is set for the $200,000 Eddie D Stakes (G2T) Oct. 1 that marks the return of sprint competition on Santa Anita Park's iconic hillside turf course.

Sprint racing down the hill was suspended in April 2019 during a spike in horse fatalities at Santa Anita. Since then, the track has implemented several safety initiatives, some at the direction of the California Horse Racing Board, and seen a reduction in catastrophic injuries.

The course has been used in the interim as a starting point for longer turf races.

"Our fans, horsemen, and Eddie Delahoussaye himself have told us they'd love to see a return to racing down the European-style course which has been unique to Santa Anita for more than six decades," track official Aiden Butler said Sept. 8.

The Eddie D is named for former jockey and Hall of Fame inductee Delahoussaye.

It's tough to look beyond Nick Alexander's Lieutenant Dan  in the Eddie D. The 5-year-old Grazen  gelding returned from 13 months' vacation to win an allowance optional claimer at Del Mar July 23. He backed that up with a front-running, 2 1/4-length victory in the Green Flash Handicap (G3T) Aug. 22 over the same course.

Both of the recent wins were at five furlongs but Lieutenant Dan has been competitive at distances out to 1 1/8 miles so trainer Steven Miyadi sees no reason to fear the about 6 1/2 furlongs down the hill.

Bloom Racing Stable's Snapper Sinclair  is a bit of a wild card in the Eddie D. The 6-year-old City Zip  entire has switched back and forth between turf and dirt throughout his career, finishing 12th in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), then taking a brief swing at the 2018 Triple Crown trail.

In March of 2021, he made a late run to finish fourth in the Godolphin Mile Sponsored by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City - District 1 (G2) on the Meydan Racecourse dirt but in April he was back on the grass at Churchill Downs, finishing second in the Opening Verse Stakes. After a break, the Steve Asmussen charge won a $400,000 division of the TVG Stakes at Kentucky Downs. He has three wins and a second in four starts at Kentucky Downs, his favorite course.

There's no question Dan Agnew, Gerry Schneider, and John Xitco's Law Abidin Citizen  will welcome a return to Santa Anita's unique, gravity-aided trip. The 7-year-old Twirling Cand  y gelding has four wins from 13 starts on the turf and all were achieved coming down the hillside course. That also was the scene of his last graded stakes win in the San Simeon (G3T) March 31, 2019—the last race run on the course before it was mothballed.

Glen Hill Farm's Caribou Club  returns to California from Florida. He also is a former "down the hill" winner, accounting for the Joe Hernandez Stakes (G3T) on New Year's Day 2019. Two races earlier, he was third, beaten less than a length in the 2018 Eddie D. Things did not go as well in Florida for the 7-year-old.

Agave Racing Stable, Medallion Racing, and Rockin Robin Racing Stables' Charmaine's Mia , the lone distaffer entered, relocated to South California from Woodbine at the start of 2021 and quickly reeled off three wins on the trot for new trainer Phil D'Amato. But when D'Amato asked the 5-year-old The Factor   mare to go beyond a mile, she came up short in her last two starts.

Gregorian Chant , Mesut , Chaos Theory , and Whisper Not  complete the field.

Entries: Eddie D S. (G2T)

Santa Anita Park, Friday, October 01, 2021, Race 7

• Grade II
• About 6 1/2f
• Downhill turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Gregorian Chant (GB)	Juan J. Hernandez	126	Philip D'Amato	4/1
2	2Caribou Club (FL)	Drayden Van Dyke	126	Michael W. McCarthy	6/1
3	3Mesut (KY)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	Carla Gaines	12/1
4	4Charmaine's Mia (KY)	Flavien Prat	123	Philip D'Amato	10/1
5	5Law Abidin Citizen (KY)	Abel Cedillo	126	Mark Glatt	5/1
6	6Chaos Theory (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	126	Robert B. Hess, Jr.	15/1
7	7Lieutenant Dan (CA)	Geovanni Franco	126	Steven Miyadi	7/2
8	8Whisper Not (GB)	John R. Velazquez	126	Richard Baltas	6/1
9	9Snapper Sinclair (KY)	Joel Rosario	124	Steven M. Asmussen	4/1