Aging Well, United and Sharp Samurai Vie in the Eddie Read
Classy geldings are to racing what perennials are to horticulture – a source of interest and fascination that isn’t fleeting.
United and Sharp Samurai are among four runners who fall into that category in a field of seven that make for an intriguing 47th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie Read Stakes on Sunday. They may be fleet, but their presence in the highest levels of competition has not been fleeting.
United, trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella for L N J Foxwoods stables, is the 8-5 morning line favorite and appears to be at peak form at the age of 5 in a career of more than $1.1 million in earnings. All but around $30,000 of that was racked up in the last 18 months.
United has had three works at Del Mar, among them a bullet :58.80 on July 11, best of 88 at the distance that morning.
“I don’t think he could be doing any better,” Mandella said Saturday morning. “He’s in great shape, he’s training very well and he’s ready to go.”
The son of Giant’s Causeway ended an eight-race 2019 campaign with a runner-up finish in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, tagged at the end by eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in November, then a neck loss in the Hollywood Turf Cup here in December.
He’s 2-for-2 in 2020 with scores in the Grade II San Marcos in February and Grade II Charles Whittingham in May at Santa Anita. Generally placed mid-pack in the early going, United showed a somewhat new dimension in sitting just off the pace before moving to the lead and holding on gamely in the Whittingham.
“It will depend on how fast they go (early), where we want to be,” Mandella said. “I haven’t looked at the race to figure out anything yet, but that’s what we usually do.”
Sharp Samurai could be considered the horse that established trainer Mark Glatt, who had distinguished himself on the Washington state and Northern California circuits, as a major player in Southern California.
“I’ve had a lot of nice horses prior to him, but he’s made the most money. He sure helped,” Glatt said this morning.
The 6-year-old son of First Samurai has eight wins in 19 career starts and earnings of $841,270 for owners Red Baron’s Barn or Rancho Temescal. He’ll be competing in his third straight Eddie Read, having finished second, beaten a neck by Catapult in 2018 and fourth, 2 ½ lengths behind Bowie’s Hero, last year.
Glatt gave serious consideration to Saturday’s San Diego Handicap on dirt, but opted to stay with Sharp Samurai’s proven preference for turf and avoid Maximum Security.
“If Maximum Security hadn’t been in there, we’d be running today,” Glatt said. “We’re interested in seeing him on the dirt. He trains well over it. As a 3-year-old all the races were on grass and he ran good enough every time so we stayed on it.
“But now that he’s getting a little older, maybe he doesn’t have the same acceleration on grass as he did and maybe dirt will be better for him in this stage of his career. We’ll see what happens (in the Read).”
The field from the rail: Bowie’s Hero (Tiago Pereira, 4-1); Originaire (Umberto Rispoli, 9-2); Sharp Samuai (Juan Hernandez, 5-1); Combatant (Jorge Velez, 12-1); Cleopatra’s Strike (Abel Cedillo, 8-1); Neptune’s Storm (Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1), and United (Flavien Prat).