Full Moon Madness edges old rival at Bay Meadows

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Full Moon Madness ($4.80) outraced old rival Echo Eddie early, survived a bumping incident at the top of the stretch and scored a one-half length victory in the $68,437 Saratoga Handicap at Bay Meadows on Saturday.

Full Moon Madness, who won the Valiant Pete Handicap at Santa Anita on April 19 after a one-year layoff, broke a bit slowly from the rail but moved into the lead on his own. He and Echo Eddie went head and head around the turn and into the lane. Echo Eddie brushed with Full Moon Madness at the top of the stretch before Full Moon Madness pulled away late to win the six-furlong race in 1:08.32.

"They ran dynamite," Echo Eddie's jockey Iggy Puglisi said. "My horse has a great middle-race move, but the other one went right with him."

Winning jockey Jason Lumpkins said he wasn't trying for the lead.

"I knew there was a lot of speed in the race, and, with the inside post, I just wanted to keep my position," he said. "I let him get his feet under him. I wasn't asking him really. He did it and was comfortable with it."

Lumpkins said his horse wasn't bothered by the bump.

The victory was the 13th in Full Moon Madness' 33-race career. The $39,975 purse lifted his lifetime earnings to $872,395.