First Peace makes the grade in the Eddie D (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
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Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— First Peace, bet down to the 9-5 favorite, found a seam on the rail in deep stretch and slipped through to earn his first graded stakes win in Saturday’s GII, $750,000 California Crown Eddie D Stakes presented by FanDuel on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course.
First Peace, ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, lagged near the back of the pack as the field descended the hill. Once the leaders passed the dirt crossing and reached mid-stretch, First Peace received his queue and responded with a late burst on the inside to score by 1 ½ lengths. Air Force Red (6-1), ridden by Juan Hernandez, was second with King of Gosford (9-1) and jockey Antonio Fresu checking in third.
“We got the dream trip,” Smith said. I knew this horse didn’t want to go to the front. I warmed him up by himself and I knew he was going to finish strong. He’s got some kind of turn of foot. He turned it on at the end.”
First Peace won in a final time of 1:11.56 following fractions of 21.64, 43.52 and 1:05.63.
“He runs every time. Last time (in GII Del Mar Mile) it was a little bit of a blip. We thought he would recover pretty well from that race. He loves the hillside course. Mike put a perfect trip on him, that’s why they call him ‘Big Money’ Mike.” said Glatt.
First Peace, who was 4-1 on the morning line, returned $5.80, $3.40 and $2.60. The 4-year-old colt by Funtastic is trained by Mark Glatt and owned by Rancho Temescal and Red Baron’s Barn. His two previous stakes wins came in the restricted Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar in July and last year’s black-type John Shear Stakes contested on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course. He is now 15: 5-5-2 with $778,520 in earnings.
Air Force Red, trained by Leonard Powell, paid $5.80 and $4.20. King of Gosford, trained by Phil D’Amato, paid $4.60.
