Classical Cat Finds Daylight, Surges to Win Eddie Logan

Michael House's ground-saving Classical Cat  found daylight in splitting rivals at the top of the lane and wore down midstretch leader First Peace  to win the $100,500 Eddie Logan Stakes by a half-length Dec. 30 at Santa Anita Park. 

The 2-year-old Mendelssohn   colt raced a mile on a firm turf course in 1:34.38 following splits of :23.47, :47.09, and 1:10.47 set by Game Time , who ultimately faded to fourth, passed late by a steady-paced Nagirroc .

Tracking in fourth until the stretch, the winner proved strongest late, catching First Peace in the final sixteenth of a mile. Nagirroc, well positioned in third for much of the race just outside the winner, was unable to quicken with the victor. 

"I had a ton of horse underneath. When you got gas, you can go whenever you want," said winning jockey Umberto Rispoli. 

Classical paid $6.60 to win as the second favorite in the Eddie Logan, which was reduced to a field of six following the scratches of Speed Boat Beach  and Tostado . Nagirroc was the 6-5 public choice after a third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) Nov. 4 at Keeneland.

Bred in Kentucky by Pippa's Hurricane, Classical Cat is out of the stakes-winning Not Bourbon  mare Conquest Strate Up . He is his dam's first stakes winner from five foals, two of which have raced. A pair of her foals are not yet of racing age: a filly born in 2021 by Hard Spun   and a Tiz the Law   colt born in 2022.

Classical Cat was a $65,000 purchase by Buffolo Bloodstock from the South Point Sales consignment to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is now 3-for-4 with earnings of $146,300.

"Down the road, we want to make him maybe our Del Mar Derby (G2T) kind of horse (over the summer) and go from there," trainer Phil D'Amato said of long-term goals.

Broadway Girls Whistles to Frontrunning Blue Norther Score

After running her rivals off their feet in gate-to-wire fashion in a Nov. 13 Del Mar maiden special weight, Broadway Girls  replicated that performance seven weeks later under similar conditions in the $103,000 Blue Norther Stakes.

Jockey Edwin Maldonado sent Broadway Girls to the front and the pair never looked back, zipping through fractions of :22.79, :46.98, and 1:12.07 before surging clear for a 1 1/2-length victory.

Overlooked at odds of 16-1 in the 11-horse field, Broadway Girls ($35.80) stopped the timer in 1:36.01 for the mile on a firm turf course.

"She's got talent," trainer Doug O'Neill said of Broadway Girls following the race. "She's still a little anxious and immature so she's got a lot of improving to do mentally and hopefully we can help her with that but she's got a lot of physical talent for sure."

Manhattan Jungle , making just her second start stateside off an eighth-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), took runner-up honors over O’Neill’s other runner, Ami Please .

Favored G Laurie  was eased down the lane and walked off following the race.

Racing for the colors of ERJ Racing, Pappas Horse Racing, and Neil Haymes, the 2-year-old filly was acquired by O’Neill’s brother Dennis at this year’s Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Two-Year-Olds & Horses of Racing Age Sale for $60,000 out of the Top Line Sales consignment.

Bred in Kentucky by Trackside Farm and Tenlane Farm, Broadway Girls improved her earnings to $108,020.

Broadway Girls became the fifth stakes winner for her sire, freshman stallion Army Mule   and the first produced by her dam, Fond Hope. A daughter of Midnight Lute  , Fond Hope hails from the family of grade 1 winner Bahamian Pirate and graded stakes victor Strong Hope. She has produced one other winner and is the dam of yearling filly by Street Boss  and a weanling colt by West Coast  .

Video: Blue Norther S. (BT)