Mike McCarty’s Unbridled’s Note had never raced on turf or faced older horses
prior to Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000
Eddie D.
Stakes at Santa Anita, but the Steve Asmussen sophomore professionally
handled a field of seasoned turf sprinters in the opening-day feature. The
Unbridled’s Song colt rallied late to overhaul the front-running Chosen Miracle,
in a well-timed move worthy of the race’s new honoree, retired Hall of Fame
rider Eddie Delahoussaye. The Eddie D., formerly known as the Morvich, serves as
a course-and-distance prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
“It’s an honor to win this race,” winning rider Corey Nakatani said. “Eddie
was one of the guys I idolized when I first started. It’s good to get that first
stakes win for the meet out of the way. This horse is a good enough horse to put
me in the position I needed to be in to win. The key is if they handle it, and
he handled it just fine. It’s Eddie D.’s day today, though. He’s a great asset
to the sport.”
Delahoussaye was honored by the occasion.
“It’s a great honor (to have a stakes race named for me), especially because
I’m living to see it,” the all-time great said. “Most of the time, they give
these awards and the people are deceased, and they never know they have won it.
So at least I know I won it — thank God!
“It’s nice having my wife and family here, and the friends that were with us
in the FrontRunner. To have the councilmen come out, and everybody at Santa
Anita, and the fans.”
Unbridled’s Note had finished third in his last pair at Saratoga. Beaten two
lengths in the Grade 2 Amsterdam, he went down by only a half-length in the
Grade 1 King’s Bishop on August 25, where he suffered a nightmare trip in
traffic and extricated himself too late. The betting public took notice of the
trouble line, dispatching him as the 3-1 favorite despite the surface switch in
the Eddie D.
With new rider Nakatani aboard, Unbridled’s Note was reserved off the pace in
fourth, but still within striking distance of the early leaders. Chosen Miracle
showed the way through splits of :22 1/5 and :44 1/5 on the unique downhill
course.
Pressed by Canuletmedowneasy in the opening stages, Chosen Miracle then faced
a threat from Comma to the Top, who dove through along the inside at the top of
the stretch. Chosen Miracle fought off both Canuletmedowneasy and Comma to the
Top, only to have Unbridled’s Note bear down on him inside the final furlong.
Lengthening stride and getting over the ground beautifully, Unbridled’s Note
surged 1 1/4 lengths clear. The winner finished about 6 1/2 furlongs on the firm
turf in 1:12 2/5 and paid $8, $5.60 and $3.80 for his first stakes victory.
Assistant trainer Scott Blasi confirmed that the Breeders’ Cup is the plan.
“First time on turf, but Unbridled’s Songs (the colt’s sire) generally like
it,” Blasi noted. “This puts us in a position to make the Breeders’ Cup (Turf
Sprint) with him. I just told Corey to put him in a good spot and see if he
liked it or not. They either like it or they don’t, but he’s bred to like the
grass and he’s a really talented colt.
“It was a pretty dominating performance, I thought, and usually when you run
them back the second time, hopefully they run better because they have a little
more direction. Corey gave him a great trip, gave him horses to follow, got
across the dirt, the horse finished up beautiful.”
Chosen Miracle held second by a neck from Mensa Heat, who got up by a
half-length over Comma to the Top. Tale of a Champion, Boxeur des Rues,
Canuletmedowneasy, Octane, Red Sun, Shrug, Calimonco and Crimson Giant rounded
out the order of finish, and Koast was scratched.
Unbridled’s Note now sports a mark of 7-3-0-2, $195,741. A 4 1/2-length debut
winner at Churchill Downs last fall, the bay flopped on the Kentucky Derby trail
at Oaklawn Park, checking in ninth in the first division of the Grade 3
Southwest and trailing in the Grade 2 Rebel. Unbridled’s Note was given a
three-month break and reverted to sprints thereafter. He made a winning return
in a seven-furlong optional claimer at Churchill on June 17, setting himself up
for his stint at the Spa.
Bred by Gulf Coast Farms and Unbridled’s Song Syndicate in Kentucky,
Unbridled’s Note is a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 star Spoken Fur. He
brought $150,000 as a newly-turned yearling at Keeneland January, and later sold
for $140,000 as an OBS March two-year-old in training.
Unbridled’s Note is out of the winning Siberian Express mare Siberian Fur.
His extended family includes such notable turf performers as multiple Grade 3
queens Keertana and Snow Top Mountain, as well as two-time Italian highweight
Knifebox.
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