Summer Front Likely Favorite in Eddie Read

Waterford Stable's classy Summer Front, runner-up to the sensational Obviously in the recent Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita, is the likely favorite Sunday in the 41st running of the Grade I $300,000 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar. 

Summer Front, a five-year-old horse by War Front trained by Christophe Clement, will have his regular rider, East Coast-based Joe Bravo, in the saddle for the nine-furlong test over Del Mar's newly-expanded Jimmy Durante Turf Course. 

Scheduled to oppose Summer Front are five entrants, namely, Tom's Tribute (Mike Smith), third in the Shoemaker Mile;  the vastly-improved Spring Up (Corey Nakatani), Cogito (Mario Gutierrez), unraced since finishing seventh to Jeranimo in the 2013 Read;  Horizontalyspeakin (Joe Talamo), the probable pacesetter Sunday, and Unbridled Command (Elvis Trujillo), making his second start for the barn of trainer Peter Miller. 

Summer Front, a winner of  eight of 19 starts and more than $800,000, will carry highweight of 121 pounds according to allowance conditions. In January, he won the Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream Park in Florida. His rivals each pack 119 pounds. 

Only a half-length separated Summer Front and Tom's Tribute in the Shoemaker Mile, the former 1   lengths back of the front-running speedster Obviously, who is awaiting the $250,000 Del Mar on Sunday, August 24, the day of the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic. 

Post time for the first of 11 races will be 2 p.m., with the Eddie Read carded as the fifth race.