Eddie D Stakes (Grade 2)- $750.000 Purse
SA- For Three Year Olds and Upward
Six and a Half Furlongs on the Turf
September 28, 2024

Out west on Saturday, we will have the 21st running of the Eddie D Stakes, which is a turf sprint for three-year-olds and upward, and the race has received a very exciting purse increase. This had been a race with a purse of $100.000 or $200.000, but now in 2024, we have a large increase all the way to the $750.000 level. Many greats have won it, including Jamfest twice. Something that has also happened twice is dead heats for the win, happening in consecutive years in 2016 and 2017. Last year, we only had one winner, and that was Fiddlestyck, for Chili King Stables. He would use that win to get into the BC Turf Sprint and finished in the middle of the pack in that race, but did not win again until taking a $40.000 claimer at SAR last month. We won’t have him, but we will have a candidate for horse of the year in this field. Let’s meet the entrants now:

1- Shark Waters (Fractious, ridden by F Prat)- This is the only three-year-old in the field, and that will give him a three-pound weight allowance over the competition. For most of his career, Shark Waters has been a productive horse in overnights but was given a chance to run in the Grade 1 BEL Derby at AQU, where he was fifth. The entire career, even his debut race, for this one has been running a mile or longer, so this is new territory for him. I like his works, but if you’ve read a lot of my previews, you probably know that I shy away from picking horses that are so used to running long, that are cut back to sprinting in a big race.

2- Gizmodo (Riggins Racing, ridden by R M Hernandez)- So much of this one’s career was spent running in claimers, and he would bounce around between trainers over the course of it. Gizmodo got results where he was entered, but in June, Riggins took a big leap of faith in his gelding by entering him in the $225.000 Beau Stakes at CD. He didn’t win, but his third-place effort there proved that he could handle a lot more than where he had been running. Comes here off a starter allowance win at SAR.

3- Mosquito (Spankys Barn, ridden by L Saez)- Makes his debut with Spankys Barn after the trainer picked him up in private sales for $150.000 two weeks. Prior to the sale, he had made his stake debut in the $250.000 KD Preview Turf Mile and ran fourth in a five-horse field. He’s used to sprinting, however, and actually had a four-race winning streak prior to that race with overnight wins at high level tracks. Looks good in works heading into this and may be a pest to the bigger names here.

4- Lantern Yard (Avenue Z, ridden by F Pennington)- This will be the 34th start for the five-year-old that has been a regular at the graded level. However, despite taking part in many of these races, none of his five victories have been in stakes but that is something that almost changed last month. Last month in the DMR Mile (Grade 2) he lost in a tight photo at the wire with American Generals. He’s been versatile with his distance, and prior to that race, was third in the KD Preview Turf Sprint.

5- Cioppino (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by A Cedillo)- It’s hard to get excited about, given that he has not done much in 2024, hitting the board just twice, in a pair of third place finishes over seven starts. He’s only won twice and could not build on taking the $100.000 Steady Growth Stakes at WO, for ON-Breds, in December. Never rule anything out, but you have to think that things need to set up perfectly for this one to pull the win off.

6- Kinnard (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by J D Acosta)- Recently was seen in the auction, and I had this on my watch list hoping the bidding would not get too high. Ultimately, and not surprisingly, it would, as Kinnard lands in the hands of Maxmillion Farm for $105.010. In June, Kinnard had a strong showing in the Grade 3 Poker Stakes, before being sold to Fractious for $150.000 in what proved to be a one race stay there, running second in the California Dreamin Stakes. Kinnard is only 2-for-20 in his career, however.

7- Gorilla Glue (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by T Conner)- After running eighth in the Crosby Stakes, Maxmillion Farm decided it was time to do something different with Gorilla Glue and moved him to the turf. He had two prior starts on the surface, but none since the first day of 2023. It would not be just a matter of bringing him to the turf, though, it would be entering him in the $2,000.000 Grade 2 KD Turf Sprint. He did beat Drinkin Creepin, which by itself is a big deal. Unfortunately, two others were a little better. If he beat him before, he can again.

8- Nashwa (High Voltage, ridden by M Franco)- The trainer picked this one up with a $20.000 claim last October and has had much bigger aspirations than that. It took a little while for the results to come, but High Voltage stuck with the stake placement and finally got rewarded for that on the first of the month as Nashwa won the $150.000 Baruch Handicap. That’s a longer race, but the horse has sprinted recently as well.

9- Drinkin Creepin (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- All good things much come to an end, and for Drinkin Creepin, his winning streak that had reached seven was snapped at KD three weeks ago in the KD Turf Sprint. For any other horse, a fourth place showing, being within a length and earning a 101 SRF in that race would not be written in a somber manner. Therefore, there is no reason to think that he cannot begin another streak right here. A lot of his wins during the streak were very close, so it is not as if Drinkin Creepin is dominating fields every time he is out there, but I do like that he knows how to find a way. Others can make a good case to be the pick, but I am not going against this one.

Prediction: 9-7-3-4

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES