Eddie Read will determine the future of nine graded winners

Although the Del Mar winner’s circle is the immediate goal for every starter in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes on Sunday, four Grade 1 winners could use the turf stakes as a means to end.

If 1 1/8 miles is too far for milers Johannes and Du Jour, there’s always the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile next month. There Goes Harvard, a Grade 1 winner on dirt, is under consideration for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. The main summer target for Gold Phoenix is the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at a mile and three-eighths.

Grade 1 winners Johannes, Du Jour, There Goes Harvard, and Gold Phoenix are among the nine graded winners in the $250,000 Eddie Read. The nine-horse field includes Grade 2 winners Easter, Master Piece, Balladeer, and Dicey Mo Chara. Balnikhov is a Grade 3 winner.

Two entrants will aim for their second victory in the Eddie Read. Gold Phoenix won the race last year, Master Piece in 2022. But in recent years, the Eddie Read has been dominated by trainer Phil D’Amato. He won four of the last eight, ran 1-2-3-4 last year, and entered three this year.

D’Amato’s trio includes 2023 one-two finishers Gold Phoenix and Balnikhov; both recently won stakes. D’Amato’s third entrant, Easter, is the most interesting. The 6-year-old will undergo an equipment change following his last-out sixth in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.

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Easter rallies from behind, which is how he won successive Grade 2s last year. But he has been falling excessively far off the early pace, leaving himself too much ground to make up. D’Amato will add blinkers after conferring with jockey Antonio Fresu.

“Antonio said when he’s too far out of it, he just kind of loses interest,” D’Amato said. “We’ve been training him with blinkers on, and he seems much more focused. We’re trying to get him into the race a little bit more.”

The last time Easter ran 1 1/8 miles, he won a Grade 2 at Santa Anita. He subsequently finished second in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile won by Du Jour, and sixth in the Shoemaker while running fastest final quarter-mile (23.13). Based on his recent workouts wearing blinkers, Easter figures to fire on Sunday.

Gold Phoenix was the top turf horse at Del Mar last summer, winning the Eddie Read and Del Mar Handicap. He has not raced since winning the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham in May at Santa Anita.

“We freshened him up, and he’s been training like clockwork,” D’Amato said, adding “the Del Mar Handicap is the ultimate goal.” That does not preclude a victory in the Read under jockey Kyle Frey.

Four in the Read exit the Shoemaker, won by Johannes. While sixth-place Easter may improve with blinkers, fourth-place There Goes Harvard can improve in his second start back. Winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2022, There Goes Harvard had been off more than a year when he showed up in the Shoemaker.

“We knew the mile might be a little short for him,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “We wanted to make sure we got a race into him before we got to Del Mar, with the Eddie Read in mind.”

There Goes Harvard ran well in the Shoemaker, fourth by 2 1/4 lengths, and benefits by the additional furlong of the Read. But the best race of his career was the Gold Cup at a mile and a quarter on dirt. McCarthy will keep the Pacific Classic, a mile and a quarter on dirt, under consideration for There Goes Harvard.

“That’s definitely on the radar,” McCarthy said, referring to the Pacific Classic. “It’s not 100 percent, but if he were to run the way we think he’s going to run [Sunday], it’s certainly worth looking at.”

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Reylu Gutierrez will ride There Goes Harvard; Juan Hernandez takes off There Goes Harvard to ride Du Jour; Umberto Rispoli rides Johannes.

Balladeer is expected to set the pace in the Read; Johannes figures to be forwardly placed after chasing fast fractions and winning two turf miles during the Santa Anita meet. Johannes would probably get first run when Balladeer falters. If Johannes handles 1 1/8 miles, the race is history.

Master Piece won the Eddie Read in 2022 while trained by McCarthy. East Coast-based Rick Dutrow now trains Master Piece, who will try to become the first 8-year-old to win the Read since Good Lord in 1979.

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