Thanks Mr. Eidson among 7 set for Best Pal Stakes
A field of seven was entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes.
The six-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds is a stepping stone for the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity (G1).
As recently as 2015 it was won by Nyquist, who went on to win the Del Mar Futurity and the Kentucky Derby.
Among the seven is Thanks Mr. Eidson, a Kentucky-bred son of More Than Ready who broke his maiden impressively here July 18.
Trained by Jeff Bonde and owned by Del Secco DCS Racing, Thanks Mr. Eidson led virtually from the start and pulled away to a 9 ½-length victory under Norberto Arroyo, Jr.
“The light kind of clicked on for him that day,” Bonde said Wednesday morning. “He had run well but had some trouble the (two) races before at Santa Anita, but the trip he got here was perfect.”
The draw for post positions was held later Wednesday but the field, in alphabetical order is: Collusion Illusion (Joe Talamo), Fore Left (Mario Gutierrez), Raging Whiskey (Abel Cedillo), Schrodinger (Flavien Prat), Thanks Mr. Eidson (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), We’re Still Here (Drayden Van Dyke) and Wrecking Crew (Mike Smith).