Itsinthepost shortens up for Eddie Read

For only the second time in his last 14 starts, long-distance specialist Itsinthepost will run a distance as short as 1 1/8 miles when he heads the field in the Grade 2, $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes for turf runners at Del Mar on Sunday.

Itsinthepost has won four of his last five starts, most recently the Whittingham going 1 1/4 miles on May 26 at Santa Anita. Rather than sit on him until the 11-furlong Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 18, trainer Jeff Mullins decided to turn him back to nine furlongs, the distance at which Itsinthepost won the San Gabriel in January.

Itsinthepost will be reunited with his regular rider Tyler Baze, who was shaking off the effects of a spill and sat out the Whittingham. Baze was aboard Itsinthepost for a five-furlong work in 1:02.20 on the Del Mar main track Sunday.

Itsinthepost is owned by the Cohen family’s Red Baron’s Barn, which also is a co-owner of Sharp Samurai. Mark Glatt, the trainer and co-owner of Sharp Samurai, said he was debating whether to run Sharp Samurai in the Eddie Read or the $75,000 Wickerr at one mile, also Sunday.

Glatt said his decision will be based on what he sees as the next goal for Sharp Samurai, whether to try longer distances – perhaps on dirt – coming off the Eddie Read, or go from the Wickerr into the Del Mar Mile on turf on Aug. 19.

Sharp Samurai won the Del Mar Derby on turf last summer. He recently returned from a layoff of more than six months to win a one-mile optional claimer at Santa Anita on the turf June 17.

The Eddie Read field is expected to also include Bowies Hero, Catapult, Fashion Business, Flamboyant, Hunt, Multiplier, Next Shares, Prime Attraction, and Irish import True Valour.

Those pointing to the Wickerr include Big Score, Bombard, Cistron, Colonist, Conquest Tsunami, Editore, Forever Juanito, Gold Rush Dancer, Kenjisstorm, Liam the Charmer, Perfectly Majestic, and Tule Fog.