The last time Om raced down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course, he made up 13 lengths in the final quarter-mile and nearly sling-shot from last to first in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1). Despite enduring a losing skid dating to December 2015, that performance and good ones like it, make him the horse to beat in Friday’s $100,000 Eddie D. (G3).
The Eddie D., at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf, is the feature on opening day of Santa Anita’s fall meet. This year marks just the second in the last six “The Great Race Place” will not play host to the Breeders’ Cup, and the Eddie D., while an ostensible prep for the Turf Sprint, may not provide as many clues as in recent years given Del Mar’s significantly different configuration and the shortened five-furlong distance of the Turf Sprint this season.
Rather than look ahead too much, Om’s connections are simply hoping for winning luck for a change. The Turf Sprint was the five-year-old’s fifth consecutive loss in a streak that has reached eight this year. Frustratingly, five of his last six have come by margins of one length or less, with a third in the Del Mar Mile (G2) his most recent setback.
A Breeders’ Cup course-and-distance winner already this season is Tribalist, who comes off a thrilling head victory in the $104,000 Green Flash H. on August 18. That was the first start for the Blake Heap trainee in more than a year, and in an abbreviated career the six-year-old has won four of six. The Green Flash was particularly impressive, as he broke slow, was steadied multiple times, yet was able to catch them all with a rally up the inside under crafty handling by Victor Espinoza.
Guns Loaded, a past winner of the San Simeon (G3) and Joe Hernandez at this track and trip, finished third in an Eddie D. division last season and figures to improve off a fifth in the Green Flash, which was his first start back from a 10 1/2-month break.
Prize Exhibit captured the Megahertz (G3) in January over a mile, and followed up with a second in the $77,000 Wishing Well down the hill against fellow fillies and mares. Mr. Roary, third in the Eddie Read (G2) two back, shortens up dramatically, while stakes veterans Rocket Heat and Coastline hope to improve on their recent form running for claiming tags.
