Lieutenant Dan won't make Eddie D Stakes

Lieutenant Dan will miss Saturday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita and remains tentatively on course for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

Lieutenant Dan won the 2021 Eddie D Stakes and was later second in the BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar. Owner and breeder Nick Alexander and trainer Steve Miyadi recently reached the decision to skip the Eddie D Stakes, Alexander said Sunday.

“He is not going to run in the Eddie. D,” Alexander said. “Steve said he is not 100 percent and does not want to take chances. It’s nothing serious.”

Lieutenant Dan won the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf on Sept. 4 at Del Mar in his first start of 2022, but has not had a workout since that race.

Alexander cautioned that an appearance in the BC Turf Sprint is not a certainty for the 6-year-old Lieutenant Dan, who has won 9 of 18 starts and $923,740.

“There is a chance we’ll miss that, too,” Alexander said. “We’ll do what is right by the horse. He doesn’t owe us anything.”

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The $200,000 Eddie D Stakes is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course and is one of five graded stakes with Breeders’ Cup ramifications on Saturday’s program.

The leading race of the day is the Grade 1 Awesome Again at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, a prep for the BC Classic. Country Grammer, winner of the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March and second in the Pacific Classic to the undefeated Flightline, will be favored in the $300,000 Awesome Again.

There are three other Grade 2 stakes on Saturday worth $200,000 – the John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles on turf, the Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, and the City of Hope Mile on turf.

– additional reporting by Brad Free

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