Sadler opts for sprint with Bran in Eddie D

Bran, the winner of three sprint stakes on turf since April 2022, was held out of Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile in favor of the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

“I don’t want to do both,” trainer John Sadler said on Friday morning. “Everything is good. We’re just changing course.”

The $300,000 Del Mar Mile is the leading turf race at that distance of the track’s summer meeting. The Eddie D Stakes is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs and will be worth a record $750,000 this year. The purse was $200,000 in 2023.

The Eddie D Stakes is one of three stakes with greatly-enhanced purses this year on Sept. 28 as part of a promotion by the track’s parent company to build an audience for an early autumn Saturday at Santa Anita. The track will host several musical acts and food promotions on Sept. 28.

The leading race on the Sept. 28 program is the Grade 1 California Crown Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. The purse will be $1 million, a significant increase from $300,000 last year when the race was known as the Awesome Again Stakes.

Bran, a 6-year-old French-bred gelding, was second in the 2023 Eddie D Stakes. Owned by Hronis Racing, Bran won his only start this year in an allowance race at a mile on turf at Del Mar on July 21.

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