Speed Boat Beach hustles to win the Speakeasy at Santa Anita Nov. 2, 2022. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire
Race Is Named For Santa Anita’s Late ‘Footman’ Who Passed Away In 2009
Mike Willman/Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Speed Boat Beach will look to add a third stakes win on grass for trainer Bob Baffert when he takes on seven rivals in Friday’s $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes going a mile on turf at Santa Anita Park.
Speed Boat Beach, winner of the five-furlong Speakeasy on the Santa Anita turf course in October, added another stakes triumph on Dec. 4 when edging Game Time by a half-length in the Grade III Cecil B. DeMille going a mile on grass at Del Mar. Sandwiched between those two wins was a ninth-place effort in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 4.
Speed Boat Beach will have a new rider on Friday as Ramon Vazquez takes over for Flavien Prat, who opts to ride eastern shipper Nagirroc for trainer Graham Motion. By Bayern, Speed Boat Beach was a $200,000 auction purchase earlier this year for owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.
Nagirroc comes west following a solid third-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 4. She earned entry into the Breeders’ Cup one start prior when winning the Grade III Futurity on grass going six furlongs at Aqueduct. The son of Lea, who is owned by Little Red Feather and Madaket Racing, had one work at Santa Anita following his arrival.
In the DeMille, Game Time dueled with Speed Boat Beach throughout and came up just short in a game effort under Umberto Rispoli. Trained by John Sadler and owned by Hronis Racing, the Not This Time colt broke his maiden one start earlier at Santa Anita when going a mile on grass on Oct. 10.
Game Time will also have a new jockey this time. John Velazquez will replace Rispoli, who is named to ride Classical Cat for trainer Phil D’Amato.
As for Michael House’s Classical Cat, he is exiting a sharp allowance win when going a mile on grass for the first time on Oct. 23 at Santa Anita. Prior to that effort, the Mendelssohn colt won his debut sprinting on dirt at Del Mar in August and came back to finish seventh in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity.
The Eddie Logan is named in honor of Santa Anita’s original shoeshine attendant, who operated his shoeshine stand at The Great Race Place from its opening in 1934 until shortly before his death at the age of 98 on Jan. 31, 2009. Logan, who often referred to himself as a “Footman,” was one of the most popular employees to ever work at Santa Anita.
First post time for a nine-race card on Friday is at 12 noon, with admission gates opening at 10 a.m.
