Gabriel Charles Swings Wide to Win Read

Heading back to Del Mar proved a winning move for Sam Britt and Michael House’s Gabriel Charles, who closed to win the $400,500 Eddie Read Stakes (gr. IT) by 3 3/4 lengths July 18 at the seaside racetrack.



The 5-year-old son of Street Hero   hit the board in his previous three starts, but his most recent victory came in the 2013 Del Mar Derby (gr. II), which also happened to be his most recent start at Del Mar.

Twentytwentyvision finished second in his first career stakes start, followed by grade I winner Finnegans Wake another 1 1/2 lengths back in third.



Gabriel Charles, with Hall of Famer Mike Smith aboard for trainer Jeff Mullins, sat sixth in the field of seven through most of the 1 1/8-mile turf race, as Big Cazanova set fractions of :23.43, :47.26 and 1:11.04 through six furlongs. The field bunched late and the winner had to circle wide in the stretch, but he won easily, hitting the wire in 1:48.13 on a turf course that was listed as yielding before the race, but was eventually changed to be rated good.

"The early fractions were well enough that I thought we were okay," Mullins said. "(Smith) was perched up on him like they were going a two-minute mile and when he swung him into the clear, I could see he had plenty of horse."

"My horse was so nice and comfortable, going along so easy," Smith added. "I was watching the competition up front, but I thought I could handle them. I was worried about (Finnegans Wake). I knew he was going to be coming and he's run some big ones."

Finnegans Wake, the winner of the May 2 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (gr. IT) was coming, but he could not make up enough ground after trailing by as many as 16 lengths early in the Eddie Read.

"He just got a little tired at the end," Finnegans Wake's jockey, Victor Espinoza, said. "Maybe he came back a little quick (after running on dirt in the Gold Cup, gr. I, at Santa Anita Park June 27), but he always tries. He always runs his race. Today just wasn't his day."

Gabriel Charles paid $11.40, $6, and $3.40 across the board at odds of 9-2, while Twentytwentyvision brought $8.20 and $4.20, with Finnegans Wake delivering $3 to show.

Power Ped finished fourth, followed by 6-5 favorite Midnight Storm, Big Cazanova, and Maltes, to complete the order of finish.

"He just never got comfortable," jockey Tyler Baze said of his mount, Midnight Storm. "I'd like to blame it on the course, but I don't think that was it. He just couldn't get into a rhythm today."

Gabriel Charles was bred in Kentucky by Doris Tummillo, out of the Atticus mare Star of Atticus, and now has a 4-4-1 record from 11 starts with $584,400 in earnings. After sustaining a bowed tendon in 2013, Gabriel Charles took more than 18 months off before returning to racing in 2015.

"How many horses bow a tendon and come back to win a (grade I)?" Mullins said. "We took our time with him and that was key. We knew he had this caliber of talent. It was a matter of keeping him healthy."