Eda Makes It Six in a Row in Los Alamitos' Great Lady M
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Eda holds off Chismosa to win the Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course
Baoma Corp's Eda , off for more than a year between her lone 2022 start in the Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) and a comeback allowance tune-up at Santa Anita Park in April, dueled throughout with a stubborn Elm Drive and edged away from fast-closing Chismosa to win the July 4 $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos Race Course.
A 4-year-old filly by Munnings , out of the winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Show Me, Eda ran her win streak for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to six dating to October 2021. Her seven wins from nine starts, along with one runner-up finish, include five stakes, topped by the grade 1 Starlet as a 2-year-old, good for $592,600 in earnings.
As one would expect from past form, Eda made her way to the lead within a half-furlong of the 6 1/2-furlong sprint, dueling with Elm Drive to her inside through fractions of :21.50, :44.07, and 1:08.48. At the sixteenth pole the two were on even terms, but as 3-year-old longshot Chismosa came with a big run down the middle of the track, Eda's jockey, Juan Hernandez, subtly moved his filly out so she could see the new challenger.
"She was really game," Hernandez said. "She has a lot of heart and always shows up. Like last time, she came from a long layoff and gave me a really nice race. Today she broke really quick and I just let her get comfortable. She does everything by herself. And then when she felt the inside horse she knew that it was time to go. She kept fighting with the one inside but when she saw the outside horse she didn't want to get passed.
"This is the kind of horse that won't let other horses pass them. She felt the horses behind her and wanted to run faster."
Eda—in Baoma's apropos red, white, and blue silks—stopped the timer in 1:15.06, a neck ahead of Chismosa, who was another neck to the good of Elm Drive in third.
The winner paid $5.80, $4.40, and $3 as the favorite in a field of nine. She was bred in Kentucky by Nathan McCauley.
Baffert won this race six times before and now four of the last six years, including a 10-length drubbing by Gamine in 2021.
This was the 10th year the Great Lady M was run at Los Alamitos. It was known as the A Gleam Handicap in a previous life at Hollywood Park, and before that the Sequoia Handicap. In 1980 the A Gleam was taken by Great Lady M, who won stakes at both Hollywood and Los Al for trainer D. Wayne Lukas before going on to even more success as a broodmare, producing 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret.