Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Richard’s Boy, Stormy Liberal skipping Eddie D Stakes
CYPRESS, Calif. – Richard’s Boy and Stormy Liberal, multiple stakes winners this year, will miss the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 29 and will not race again until the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4, trainer Peter Miller said on Thursday.
They are two of four hopefuls Miller has for Breeders’ Cup sprint races this year. Miller plans to run Roy H and Calculator in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7, a prep for the BC Sprint.
Stormy Liberal has not been training much because of an infection in a hind leg, Miller said.
Stormy Liberal won four consecutive stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita this year but was eighth in the Grade 3 Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10 in his last start.
Richard’s Boy has brighter recent form, having finished third in the Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 18. He has since had a freshening at the farm.
Roy H had a tough trip when second in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 29, when he was carried wide on the turn. Calculator was second in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 26 behind Giant Expectations after leading in the final furlong.
Kobe’s Back, a multiple stakes winner who has never raced on grass, might run in the Eddie D at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, trainer Peter Eurton said.
Kobe’s Back was fourth in the Bing Crosby and sixth in the Pat O’Brien. A 6-year-old, Kobe’s Back is winless in seven starts since taking the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in March 2016.
Which coast for Estrechada?
Estrechada, the winner of the Grade 3 Waya Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 5, will have her next start at Aqueduct or Del Mar in early November.
Trainer Mike Puype said he is considering the Grade 2 Las Vegas Marathon against males at 1 3/4 miles on dirt at Del Mar on Nov. 3 or the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on turf for fillies and mares at Aqueduct on Nov. 4.
The Waya Stakes, at 1 1/2 miles on turf, was the first stakes win in the United States for Estrechada, a 6-year-old Argentine-bred mare. More recently, Estrechada was fourth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by winner Harmonize, in the Grade 3 Glens Falls at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Saratoga on Sept. 2.
“They went slow and turned it into a sprint,” Puype said. “She doesn’t have that turn of foot.”
Puype said the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Sept. 30 is “too short” for Estrechada.
“She’s a true stayer,” he said.
Large fields for Sunday
Sunday’s nine-race program drew 83 runners for nine races, the most of any card in the first week of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos. The card averages 9.2 runners per race.
The six maiden races on the card drew 56 runners. A $30,000 claiming race for maidens was divided into two 10-horse divisions, while a $20,000 claiming race for maidens was divided into two nine-horse races. There also are two maiden special weight races, one for 3-year-olds and up (eight entrants) and one for statebred 2-year-old fillies (10 entrants).
“Any kind of winners’ race didn’t have that many [entries],” racing secretary Bob Moreno said.
There was an average of 7.3 runners per race on Thursday’s first day of the meeting. Friday’s eight-race program had 59 runners on the card, while Saturday’s nine-race program had 61.
The September 2016 meeting averaged 7.04 runners per race. Generally, the larger the field the more money that is bet.
The three-week meeting runs through Sept. 24 and is followed by the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Sept. 29.
◗ Jockey Corey Nakatani has been suspended for next Thursday’s card for repeated incidents of excessive use of the whip, according to a ruling published by Los Alamitos stewards this week.
Nakatani was cited for his winning ride on Bolt d’Oro in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last Monday. Nakatani was judged to have struck Bold d’Oro more than three times in succession without giving his mount a chance to respond. This was Nakatani’s fifth such offense in the last 60 days, leading to the one-day suspension.