Tom Seaver, Shady Tiger make late-running D'Amato team in Echo Eddie

Stablemates Shady Tiger and Tom Seaver may be moving as a team on the turn of Saturday’s $125,000 Echo Eddie Stakes at Santa Anita.

Both run from off the pace and should have a lively tempo to follow in the race for California-bred 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs. Their closing styles, combined with the presence of several other talented runners who race closer to the front, should make for a thrilling stretch run.

“Maybe Shady Tiger has a little more speed than Tom Seaver,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “Both are tactical.”

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Both Shady Tiger and Tom Seaver have winning chances in the 11-horse Echo Eddie, the last of five stakes on a 12-race program that begins at noon Pacific. The afternoon’s first stakes is the $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs.

The Echo Eddie field includes 2023 stakes winners Lord Prancealot and Last Call London.

Lord Prancealot, who won the Graduation Stakes for statebreds at six furlongs at Del Mar last August, won his 2024 debut in an allowance race at six furlongs at Golden Gate Fields on March 24, leading throughout.

Lord Prancealot is expected to be part of the pace in the Echo Eddie, and may be closely pursued by Known Idea, the odds-on winner of a maiden race on March 15. Refocus, who drew the outside, was near the front throughout an allowance race at six furlongs on March 4 before winning by three-quarters of a length in his 2024 debut.

Shady Tiger and Tom Seaver will be joined from off the pace by Two by Four, who beat Known Idea in a maiden race on dirt in February.

Tom Seaver is undefeated in two starts, both on turf – a maiden race last October, and an allowance race on March 17.

Tom Seaver breaks from post 10 for owner and breeder Nick Alexander, and is out of Enola Gray, a two-time stakes winner on dirt.

“I think he’s got the right style to win that race,” D’Amato said. “He can come from off the pace and there is a lot of speed in there. He’s got a nice outside post.”

“It was circumstances that I tried him on the grass the first time. He was ready to run and the grass race was staring at me.”

Shady Tiger has won his last two starts in six-furlong races – beating maidens on dirt on Jan. 7, and in an allowance race for statebreds on turf on Feb. 17. In both victories, Shady Tiger displayed a solid rally.

“He’s a talented horse,” D’Amato said. “He’s screaming out for more ground.”

The Evening Jewel will be the 3-year-old debut of Mirinda, the outstanding winner of a maiden race at Del Mar last September who finished third in her only subsequent start in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in November.

Mirinda has been in training for several months, but has an erratic pattern of workouts in the last 60 days because of occasional illnesses, trainer Gary Mandella said.

Mandella was encouraged when Mirinda worked five furlongs in a quick 59.20 seconds on March 29, but questions whether the filly is in peak condition.

“I’m not sure Saturday is the day for her A-plus game,” he said.

“I was going to wait for an allowance race, but her last work was so good. I’m going to take a shot.”

Mirinda will play an important role as a potential pacesetter, along with Grease Missle, a two-time stakes winner at Turf Paradise in February and March, and Clubhouse Bride, who was second in an allowance race for California-bred fillies on turf on March 16.

A rapid pace helps the chances of a closer such as Quick Kate, who was fourth behind Clubhouse Bride on March 16. The Evening Jewel will be Quick Kate’s fifth start and first on dirt.

“That’s the issue,” trainer Craig Lewis said.

“She trains well on it, but you never know it. If she’ll run into the dirt and the pace is hot, as it appears it could be, that gives her a look.”

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