Santa Anita stakes named for Delahoussaye

Santa Anita

Eddie Delahoussaye won more than 6,300 races, including back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Derby.

Retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye will be honored with a stakes race in his name at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, the track announced on Thursday.

The $100,000 Eddie D Stakes will be run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course on Sept. 28, the opening day of the meeting.

“This is a great honor,” Delahoussaye said in a statement released by Santa Anita. “I won a lot of races coming down the hill, but I never thought they’d name a race for me.”

The Eddie D Stakes, which has Grade 3 status, is the new name for a race previously known as the Morvich Handicap, and is part of a change in stakes names for the autumn meeting.

Santa Anita is operating the fall meeting for the second consecutive year. Last year, a financial agreement was made with the Oak Tree Racing Association for Santa Anita to run stakes at the autumn meeting that had been part of Oak Tree’s past meetings, notably preps for the Breeders’ Cup races.

Oak Tree operated fall meetings at Santa Anita from 1969-2009 and at Hollywood Park in 2010, but did not conduct a meeting in 2011 and is not holding one this year.

For 2012, no financial arrangement was reached between Oak Tree and Santa Anita, and Santa Anita is renaming several stakes. A full stakes schedule is expected to be announced in coming weeks.

Delahoussaye, 60, won 6,384 races, including consecutive runnings of the Kentucky Derby in 1982 and 1983 with Gato del Sol and Sunny’s Halo. He retired in 2003.

These days, Delahoussaye remains active in racing as an owner-breeder and bloodstock advisor. He has an almost daily presence in the stables, and remains a popular figure in the sport.