Santa Anita Autumn Meet opens with Eddie D. featured

Unbridled’s Note will be seeking his second Eddie D. victory in three years on Santa Anita’s opening day (Benoit Photos) America’s top jockeys and trainers are set to compete beginning Friday as Santa Anita‘s 23-day Autumn Meet, which will be highlighted by the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships on October 31 and November 1, gets underway. “We’ve got an incredible overall jockey colony and our horse inventory looks good as well,” said Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita Vice President of Racing. “Our trainer roster is second to none and we’re optimistic we’re going to be able to provide our fans top-class racing and good betting opportunities.” Rafael Bejarano, who will be seeking his 20th leading rider title in Southern California, heads one of the nation’s deepest jockey colonies that also includes the likes of Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who is the all-time winningest jockey in Breeders’ Cup history.

Top trainers such as Bob Baffert, Jerry Hollendorfer, Peter Miller, John
Sadler and Doug O’Neill figure to once again vie for leading trainer honors.
Hollendorfer, who dead-heated atop the Santa Anita Spring standings with Sadler,
has a deep and varied stable that is currently headed by the undefeated champion
Shared Belief, who is slated to run next in the $300,000 Awesome Again on
Saturday — his final prep for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on November
1.

Recent winner of the Pacific Classic, Shared Belief will be the subject of a
full color poster to be given away free of charge to the first 4,000 attendees
on Friday.

The featured race on Friday’s card is the Grade 3, $100,000
Eddie D.,
an about 6 1/2-furlong turf sprint that serves as a course-and-distance tune-up
for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on November 1.

Unbridled’s Note, who won the 2012 Eddie D. and finished third by a
half-length in his title defense last season, is back for another go. The Steve
Asmussen trainee’s win two years ago came in the horse’s grass debut, and the
son of Unbridled’s Song has subsequently won the 2013 editions of the Joe
Hernandez Handicap and Daytona over the Santa Anita turf.

Unraced since February, Unbridled’s Note ran second and fourth, behind the
filly Mizdirection, in the past two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Ambitious Brew, undefeated in three starts on Santa Anita’s turf, was last
seen in February taking the $100,000 Sensational Star for California-breds and
has been working lights-out at Los Alamitos for trainer Marty Jones.

Also likely to attract support are Pure Tactics, Lil Bit O’Fun, Global Power,
and the three-year-old Home Run Kitten.

First post time on opening day will be at 1 p.m. (PDT). Admission gates will
open at 11 a.m.