D'Amato gets meet off to a winning start

ARCADIA, Calif. – Three graded stakes wins in a little more than 24 hours gave trainer Phil D’Amato a brilliant start to the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Friday and Saturday. At least two of those winners – and one runner-up from his stable – are being considered for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 2.

Pee Wee Reese won Friday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at five furlongs on turf and will be pointed for the BC Turf Sprint at the same distance on Nov. 2. Mirth, the upset winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes on turf, earned an automatic berth to the BC Filly and Mare Turf.

Cleopatra’s Strike, who won Saturday’s Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship, is unlikely to run in the BC Turf on Nov. 2. D’Amato said a race such as the Grade 2, 1 1/2-mile Hollywood Turf Cup on Nov. 29 at Del Mar is a goal. The D’Amato-trained Acclimate was second in the John Henry Turf Championship and will start in the BC Turf, having earned an automatic berth with a win in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 17.

Mirth led throughout the Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf. Ridden by Mike Smith, Mirth ($14.20) led by 2 1/2 lengths early and won by 1 1/4 lengths over 6-5 favorite Beau Recall. Owned by the Little Red Feather Racing partnership, Mirth won a $16,000 claimer for maidens at Delaware in September 2017.

The 4-year-old filly began racing for Little Red Feather and D’Amato at the beginning of this year.

“We had high hopes for her,” D’Amato said. “We pegged her as a filly that would go long and be on the lead. It worked out great. He gave her a Hall of Fame ride.”

While Mirth has a fees-paid berth to the Filly and Mare Turf, Pee Wee Reese’s inclusion in the BC Turf Sprint will cost owner and breeder Nick Alexander $130,000 – $100,000 to nominate the 6-year-old horse to the Breeders’ Cup program, and $30,000 in pre-entry and entry fees.

Saturday, Alexander said he was ready to make the hefty nomination by the pre-entry deadline on Oct. 21, provided Pee Wee Reese is in good condition. Alexander said he would prefer that Flavien Prat, who was aboard for the win in the Eddie D, be available to ride.

“We’re waiting to make sure he comes out okay,” Alexander said. “If Prat would commit to riding him back, I’d probably spend the 100 grand.

“I was looking at the European and East Coast horses and they’re nice horses. It would be on our home turf and at our distance.”

Pee Wee Reese has won 8 of 15 starts and earned $532,901. The Eddie D Stakes was his second start of the year, and first since a win in the Sensational Star Handicap for California-breds on March 31. Pee Wee Reese has been injured before and spent time on Alexander’s ranch in Santa Ynez, Calif.

“He gets a little ouchy on his high suspensories,” Alexander said. “We try to err on the side of caution. If the vet says two months, we usually give him three.

“It’s never been career-threatening or chips or things like that. He’s easy on himself when he’s home. He’s a good horse to be around.”

Alexander is the chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and has been involved in racing since the late 1970s. He has never had a runner in a Breeders’ Cup race.

“I had a couple I thought would get there,” Alexander said. “This is as close as I’ve gotten.”