The 8-year-old Gold Phoenix came running late under Hector Berrios to get up by a nose and win the Grade 2 Eddie Read at Del Mar, his record sixth Del Mar stakes win. (© Benoit Photo)
Del Mar Press
The old man is not ready to hang it up yet.
Sunday at Del Mar, the 8-year-old chestnut Gold Phoenix came running late and got past them all at the end of the nine-furlong Eddie Read Stakes for the 13th victory of his career, setting a Del Mar record in the process.
The Irish-bred gelding, who is owned by a partnership led by Agave Racing Stable and Little Red Feather Racing, picked up a first prize of $150,000 for his nose victory and pushed his career earnings to $2,587,087. It was his sixth tally on the Del Mar lawn, all in stakes races, meaning he now has established a new record for added-money scores at the shore. Five other horses have five stakes wins at Del Mar.
Gold Phoenix was handled by Hector I. Berrios and trains out of the barn of Phil D’Amato. He returned $11.40 to his backers in the Sunday crowd.
Finishing second was Kretz Racing’s Cabo Spirit, just a hair behind the winner. Running third, a nose and a head back in the furious finish, was the 7-10 race favorite Formidable Man, owned by Suzanne and William Warren, Jr.
Final time for the 53rd edition of the stakes named for the original publicity director at Del Mar was 1:47.73.
The Gold Phoenix connections were aiming him for a possible fifth score in the Del Mar Handicap, a mile and three-eighths on the lawn that will be run on Saturday, August 29. They thought the Read might be a nice prep for the “Handicap.” But Gold Phoenix didn’t want to wait. He fired another big shot today and now will go for an unprecedented five-bagger in the “Handicap” and yet another possible record performance.
Racing will return to Del Mar on Thursday with first post at 2 p.m.
HECTOR I. BERRIOS (Gold Phoenix, winner) – “Coming out of the chute, I got put in tight and my horse stumbled. But he picked himself up and we did fine from there. We were all the way in the back for most of the trip, but I was saving ground. I had room near the fence turning for home, then we found room between horses and it was ‘vamanos!’ He did it.”
JOHN VELAZQUEZ (Formidable Man, third) – “We didn’t have any real trouble; maybe just a bit. When we came for home, I had to switch lanes with him and that took away some of his momentum. But it was just a case of it being horse racing. That’s all.”
PHILIP D’AMATO (Gold Phoenix, winner) – “They were going so slow I was thinking at first this is just our planned prep for the Del Mar Handicap. We’ll come running late and we’ll be set up for that race. Then at the top of the lane I thought maybe we’ll run third and get a piece. But when Formidable Man and him hooked up I could just see it in his eyes he just wasn’t going to let that horse pass him, and I think Formidable Man helped him get to the wire first.”
FRACTIONS: :24.73 :48.96 1:12.86 1:36.37 1:47.73
The stakes win was rider Berrios’ first of the meet and trainer D’Amato’s second of the meet.
The victory in the Eddie Read was the second in the race for Berrios (Gold Phoenix, 2023) and his 29th at Del Mar.
The score in the Eddie Read was the 76th at Del Mar for trainer D’Amato and his fifth in the Read.
The winning owners are a group led by Agave Racing and Little Red Feather Racing.
