Gold Phoenix catches Cabo Spirit late in Eddie Read for record sixth Del Mar stakes win
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DEL MAR, Calif. - The Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar on Sunday was designed as a prep race for Gold Phoenix for the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 29, a race he has won the last four years.
Instead, Gold Phoenix landed a Del Mar milestone with a come-from-behind win in the $251,500 Eddie Read Stakes.
Gold Phoenix ($11.40) closed from last of eight to catch pacesetter Cabo Spirit in the final strides, winning a record sixth career stakes at Del Mar. Five other runners in track history have won five stakes, including Formidable Man, who finished third in the Read.
“My hope was we’d run third and get a piece,” trainer Phil D’Amato said of Gold Phoenix. “We’ll come running late and we’ll be set up for that race.”
Gold Phoenix exceeded those expectations, and is now firmly on course for the $300,000 Del Mar Handicap after Sunday’s win.
Ridden by Hector Berrios, Gold Phoenix was last to the turn and was closer to the back of the field than the lead with a furlong remaining, trailing Cabo Spirit by three lengths. Gold Phoenix rallied between rivals late, catching Formidable Man a few strides from the finish and Cabo Spirit on the line.
“I felt like I had a lot of horse,” Berrios said. “The hole opened and I said, ‘Let’s go.’ I got in front of ” Formidable Man.
Gold Phoenix ran 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:47.73.
Cabo Spirit (8-1) set a slow early pace of 24.73 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.96 for a half-mile, leading by as much as two lengths. Cabo Spirit led by a length with a furlong remaining while racing wide. He finished in the center of the course, while Gold Phoenix was much closer to the inside.
George Papaprodromou, who trains Cabo Spirit, was left to wonder whether Cabo Spirit would have been tougher to pass if he would have been closer to Gold Phoenix in the final strides.
“It was a tough beat,” Papaprodromou said. “If the horse wasn’t wide, he would have seen him.”
Cabo Spirit finished a head in front of 7-10 favorite Formidable Man, who was fifth on the backstretch and came under a ride from jockey John Velazquez on the turn.
“It looked like he had to ride him to keep after him at the three-eighths pole,” trainer Michael McCarthy said of Velazquez.
Formidable Man was followed by Stay Hot, Seal Team, Almendares, Mondego and Mi Hermano Ramon. Astronomer was scratched earlier on Sunday.
The Eddie Read Stakes was Gold Phoenix’s third win in five starts this year.
Owned by the partnership of Agave Racing Stable, Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify, Gold Phoenix won the Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita in March in his second start of the year.
Gold Phoenix finished a troubled seventh in a field of nine in the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 2, and rebounded to win the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles on turf by five lengths at Santa Anita on June 14.
“Coming from a mile and three-quarters to a mile and an eighth, you don’t see that,” D’Amato said. “For him to do that shows what kind of horse he is. The pressure will be on for the next race.”
An 8-year-old Irish-bred gelding, Gold Phoenix has won 13 of 34 starts and earned $2,587,087. He has won 11 stakes in his career, all at Del Mar and Santa Anita.
Gold Phoenix won the 2023 Eddie Read for his second stakes win at Del Mar. He is one of six two-time winners of the Read, which was first run in 1974.
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