Lieutenant Dan wins third straight in Eddie D as hillside racing resumes

ARCADIA, Calif. - Lieutenant Dan earned $120,000 for winning his third consecutive race in Friday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita.

The winner’s share of the prize money is enough for owner and breeder Nick Alexander to finance a $100,000 fee to nominate Lieutenant Dan to the Breeders’ Cup program in time for the Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

“We earned enough money to do it,” Alexander said in the winner’s circle. “It’s hard not to do it.”

Lieutenant Dan won the first turf sprint run on the hillside turf course since March 2019 when such races were stopped after a two-horse spill in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes. Santa Anita ran turf sprints on the main turf course oval, and from a chute built last fall, before deciding last month to resume sprints on the hillside course on a limited basis at this month’s autumn meeting.

A majority of the turf sprints will be run on the main turf oval. The $202,000 Eddie D Stakes is the first of three sprints on the hillside turf course this weekend.

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Sent off favored, Lieutenant Dan ($7) stalked the pace for the first half-mile, took the lead when the field joined the main turf course, and held off a late run from 7-2 Snapper Sinclair to win by a half-length.

Ridden by Geovanni Franco, Lieutenant Dan was timed in 1:11.74.

“He’s a pretty fast horse and very versatile,” Franco said. “He broke sharp and put me in a nice spot. He took me through the trip.”

Snapper Sinclair, who won a division of the restricted TVG Stakes at a mile at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 8, closed from eighth in a field of nine, and finished a neck in front of 36-1 Chaos Theory, the second-longest shot in the field.

“It took him a little while to get going,” said Joel Rosario, who rode Snapper Sinclair.

Gregorian Chant finished fourth, followed by Mesut, Caribou Club, Whisper Not, Charmaine’s Mia, and Law Abidin Citizen.

Law Abidin Citizen, a 7-year-old gelding, won the 2019 San Simeon Stakes. He was close to the pace in Friday’s race until the stretch.

Charmaine’s Mia, a 5-year-old mare and a three-time stakes winner at Santa Anita earlier this year, set a quick pace of 21.61 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 42.95 for a half-mile, but faded from contention through the stretch under jockey Flavien Prat.

“I think Flavien wished he didn’t go to the lead,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “He had to move early and got outrun.”

Lieutenant Dan, a 5-year-old gelding by Grazen, is trained by Steve Miyadi and has won 8 of 16 start and earned $663,840.

Lieutenant Dan has won five stakes, including the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 22 over the same course and distance as the BC Turf Sprint.

The Eddie D Stakes is Lieutenant Dan’s most prestigious win.