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Big Runnuer Never Headed In Opening-Day Eddie D. Stakes At Santa Anita

Breaking sharply from the far outside in a field of seven, favored Big Runnuer made the lead and never looked back, as he took Friday's main event on opening day at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., the Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, winning by one length under upstart Juan Hernandez, thus providing the 28-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico, with his first ever Santa Anita stakes win. Trained by Victor Garcia and owned by his father “King” Juan Garcia, Big Runneur got 5 1/2 furlongs on turf in 1:01.15.

A winner of his last two races, most recently the 5 1/2-furlong Siren Lure Stakes at Santa Anita on June 21, Big Runnuer, a 5-year-old horse by Stormy Atlantic, had been ridden in his last two starts by Ruben Fuentes.

“I had never ridden him,so I asked Ruben (who is currently serving a riding suspension) what he knew about him,” said Hernandez. “He told me he was a very nice horse with natural speed. It looked like we had some speed inside of us, so I thought we'd stay where we were and stay comfortable. But he broke sharp and when we cleared them and got to the rail, it was over. I asked him to change leads and it was no problem. He's a nice horse.”

Off at 3-2, Big Runneur, who is now four for five on the Santa Anita grass, paid $5.00, $3.20 and $2.60.

“He broke sharp (today), other times he was a jump or a jump and a half slow, but this time he broke sharp and he took the lead so easily,” said Garcia, whose father Juan was a legendary conditioner at Agua Caliente, just south of San Diego. “I saw the first fraction at 21 (seconds) and is said, 'Well, he's not going too fast. With the blinkers on, he is more focused on the race.”

Out of the Elusive Quality mare Elusive Luci, Big Runneur, with his first graded stakes victory in-hand, is now 7-4-1-2 overall and with the winner's share of $120,000, he has earnings of $253,660.

The second choice at 5-2, Doug O'Neill's Wildman Jack came rolling from off the pace to be second by 1 ¾ lengths over Grit and Curiosity. With Abel Cedillo up. “Wildman” paid $3.60 and $2.80.

Ridden by Luis Saez, Grit and Curiosity was off at 7-1 and paid $3.60 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.96, 43.98 and 55.23.

Named in honor of retired all-time great Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, the Eddie D was run as the Morvich Stakees prior to being renamed in 2012. Delahoussaye, America's leading rider by wins in 1978, won the 1984 Morvich aboard the Eddie Gregson-trained Tsunami Slew.

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Into Chocolate Upsets Chillingworth Stakes At Santa Anita

With well backed favorites Qahira and Amuse slugging it out to deep stretch, longshot Into Chocolate came running three wide late and was up to win Friday's Grade 3, $100,000 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Owned and bred by Pam and Martin Wygod, the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief got 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.86 and was ridden to the three-quarter-length victory by Umberto Rispoli.

“I didn't know much about her, but Mr. Sise said she was doing really good and she should run a lot better than she did at Del Mar,” said Rispoli, who was aboard for the first time. “It looked like they were going pretty fast in front and my filly was very professional.”

A second condition allowance winner going six furlongs at Belmont Park July 12, Into Chocolate returned to Del Mar and was subsequently beaten 20 lengths while never a factor in the G3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 21.

Off at 8-1 in a field of five fillies and mares today, Into Chocolate paid $19.60, $4.80 and $2.80.

“We threw her last race at Del Mar out,” said Sise. “She came out of that race body sore and then her blood count was off. She's been feeling really good here since we got back and I could tell saddling her today that she was doing good and she was ready. Those were some nice fillies and it's always good to win.”

Out of the Wygods' Candy Ride mare Candy Drawer, Into Chocolate picked up her first stakes win and notched her fourth win from 11 starts. With the winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $216,031.

Bob Baffert's Qahira, was off as the 3-5 favorite, out-gamed Amuse for the place and paid $2.60 and $2.10 with Luis Saez aboard.

Amuse, who was lapped on the favorite throughout, finished a half length clear of Hang a Star. Off at 2-1 with Drayden Van Dyke up, she paid $2.10 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.18, 44.94 and 1:09.51.

Formerly run as the LA Woman Stakes, the Chillingworth honors the memory of longtime Oak Tree Racing Association Executive Vice President Sherwood Chillingworth, who passed away in October 2019 at the age of 93.

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Queen’s Plate Winner Mighty Heart In ‘Extremely Good Order,’ To Start In Prince Of Wales

It will be a field of nine for the 85th running of the Prince of Wales Stakes, the 2ndjewel in the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, to be held on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Fort Erie Racetrack.

Five of the top Queen's Plate competitors will be taking another run for a triple crown jewel, including the first-place finisher, Mighty Heart. The one-eyed wonder trained by Josie Carroll for Lawrence Cordes, will once again have Daisuke Fukumoto looking to steer the race favorite first across the finish line and continue his quest to be the first Canadian Triple Crown winner since Wando in 2003.

“He came out of the Queen's Plate in extremely good order and breezed very well on Thursday,” said Carroll. “We thought he deserved a chance for a run at the Canadian Triple Crown.”

Trainer Kevin Attard is looking for better results with Clayton after a third place finish in the Plate, a neck ahead of Tecumseh's War, who will also be trying for a Prince of Wales victory for trainer Catherine Day Phillips.

Truebelieve, owned by Niagara's Centennial Farms shipped in to Fort Erie's backstretch and was out on the track for morning training on Friday.

“He came out of the gate a little bit stronger than I wanted him to, and didn't really settle, but he ran a good race and we wanted to give him another try with the Prince of Wales,” said trainer Cole Bennett about Truebelieve's performance in the Plate. “Now that he's had a race into him he's a little bit fitter and a little bit tighter. We've taken the blinkers off, which will hopefully help him to relax a bit. He likes the dirt and trained really well over Fort Erie's track, so we think the surface will suit him.”

Dotted Line will be taking another swing at a triple crown race after finishing 7th in the Plate. Trainer Mark Casse has entered Bold Victory and Muskoka Giant into the competition, and trainer Santino DiPaola will be running Enchant Me.

Many Fort Erie locals will be cheering for supplemental entry Red Mercury, who is stabled in Fort Erie's backstretch. Trained by Paul Lepaine, for MPB Stables, he will be the race longshot at 30-1.

The $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes is the 2nd jewel in the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, for three-year-olds foaled in Canada, running 1 3/16 miles on Fort Erie's dirt surface. First race post time on September 29 is 2:10 p.m., with the Prince of Wales race scheduled for approximately 5:37 p.m. Due to COVID-19, Fort Erie Race Track will be closed to spectators. Fans can tune in to the Canadian Triple Crown broadcast on TSN sponsored by OLG, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on TSN channels 1,3, 4, and 5.

Tuesday's card will include a mandatory payout of the Jackpot High-5 pool in our final race, with a carryover amount of $178,381.93.

For more information, visit www.FortErieRacing.com

Prince of Wales Stakes

Post	Horse	Owner	Trainer	Jockey	MLO
1	Truebelieve	Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc.	Cole Bennet	Keveh Nicholls	30-1
2	Mighty Heart	Lawrence P. Cordes	Josie Carroll	Daisuke Fukumoto	7-5
3	Dotted Line	Norseman Racing Stable	Sid Attard	Justin Stein	8-1
4	Red Mercury	MPB Stables	Paul Lepaine	Simon Husbands	30-1
5	Enchant Me	York Tech Racing Stable	Santino DiPaola	Luis Contreras	20-1
6	Bold Victory	John Oxley	Mark Casse	Patrick Husbands	12-1
7	Tecumseh's War	Ilium Stables, LLC	Catherine Day Phillips	Emma-Jayne Wilson	4-1
8	Muskoka Giant	Conrad Farms	Mark Casse	Kazushi Kimura	12-1
9	Clayton	Lanni, Donato and Plouffe, Daniel	Kevin Attard	Rafael Hernandez	5-2

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Wide Open Field Of Seven To Contest Sunday’s Tokyo City Cup

In a marathon devoid of any clear standout, Richard Mandella's Tizamagician, Bob Baffert's Azul Coast and John Sadler's Combatant all figure prominently among a field of seven 3-year-olds and up in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Tokyo City Cup, to be contested at a mile and one half at Santa Anita Park.

A gate to wire first condition allowance winner going one mile on Sept. 5 at Del Mar, Tizamagician broke his maiden on Jan. 1 and now has two wins from six starts this year. A non-threatening fifth on turf in the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap Aug. 9, Azul Coast was second to his eventual Kentucky Derby winning stablemate Authentic five starts back in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes Jan. 4.

Combatant, an upset winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 7, has been well beaten in three subsequent graded stakes.

TIZAMAGICIAN

Owner: MyRacehorse.com & Spendthrift Farm, LLC

Trainer: Richard Mandella

The only horse in the field to exit a win in his last start, this 3-year-old Tiznow colt will hope to stretch his considerable speed an additional half mile on Sunday. A close fourth to current Preakness hopeful Thousand Words subsequent to his maiden win in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 1, Tizamagician ran what appears to be the best race of his career on Sept. 5 and will retain the services of Drayden Van Dyke.

AZUL COAST

Owner: Mike Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Fifth, beaten 7 ¾ lengths on turf in the Grade III La Jolla Handicap last time out, Azul Coast showed much promise early, breaking his maiden going one mile at first asking on Dec. 8 at Los Alamitos and then running a respectable second to an outstanding horse in the Grade III, one mile Sham. Last, beaten 13 ½ lengths by Honor A.P. two starts back in the Santa Anita Derby, Azul Coast, a colt by Super Saver, was then a handy 1 ¼ length winner of the El Camino Real Derby three races back at Golden Gate Fields. Ridden by five different jockeys in as many starts, he'll be handled for the first time on Sunday by Luis Saez as he bids for his first graded stakes win in his sixth career start.

COMBATANT

Owner: Hronis Racing, LLC

Trainer: John Sadler

Although a winner at 9-1 of the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap four starts back on March 7, he's been soundly beaten in three consecutive races since; the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap (turf) on Aug. 22, the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 25 and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap May 2. Like the rest of the field, he'll be trying a mile and one half for the first time. With his Big 'Cap win, he does have proven ability at a mile and one quarter but he'll have to overcome an unattractive form cycle with Umberto Rispoli up.

THE GRADE 3 TOKYO CITY CUP WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 10 of 11 Approximate post time 5 p.m. PT

Cupid's Claws—Flavien Prat—122
Combatant—Umberto Rispoli—126
Tizamagician—Drayden Van Dyke—118
Bold Endeavor—Tyler Baze—122
Muralist—Juan Hernandez—122
Potantico—Abel Cedillo—122
Azul Coast—Luis Saez—120

First post time for an 11-race card on Sunday is at 12:30 p.m. Although there is no pubic admittance, Santa Anita's races can be viewed free of charge via the track's livestream video at santaanita.com

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