Eda wins fourth straight in Santa Ysabel

The winner of the Dec. 4 Starlet (G1) in her prior appearance on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, Eda is not eligible to score points because trainer Bob Baffert is suspended by Churchill Downs Inc. The same applies to stablemate Under the Stars, who was gaining at the wire on Sunday but came up a half-length short.

Eda had prevailed the last time they met as well, leaving Under the Stars five lengths back in third in the Nov. 13 Desi Arnaz S. at Del Mar. But Under the Stars had improved to capture her next two, including the Jan. 8 Santa Ynez (G2), and bettors sided with her to turn the tables as the even-money favorite. Eda went off as the joint 3.30-1 second choice with Ain’t Easy, who was racing for the first time since her Oct. 1 Chandelier (G2) victory. 

When the gate opened, Eda was quickest into stride, while Under the Stars broke a bit awkwardly from the outside post. That might have been the key to the race, for the favorite had to chase the entire way. Eda also made good use of her experience over the 1 1/16-mile distance. Under the Stars was making her two-turn debut.

With Juan Hernandez back aboard, Eda was on cruise control a length up on Under the Stars, who attempted to press but couldn’t manage it. Ain’t Easy was traveling comfortably behind the leader on the rail. Appearing full of run when a seam opened turning for home, Ain’t Easy tried to challenge on the inside. 

But Eda spurted clear into the stretch. Ain’t Easy didn’t find as much as she’d hinted, perhaps needing this comeback. Then Under the Stars regrouped and took another run at Eda down the lane, inching nearer approaching the wire. Eda held her safely at bay in a final time of 1:44.31.

“She was traveling really good,” Hernandez said of Eda. “She was comfortable the whole race. She broke really sharp today and I got a good position. 

“I asked her around the quarter-pole when I felt the inside horse (Ain’t Easy) and the outside horse (Under the Stars), I told her it was time to go and she picked it up pretty good.

“When I asked her, she responded and took off again but I saw the other horse (Under the Stars) and (she) almost got me.”

Ain’t Easy soldiered on for third, another 3 3/4 lengths back, and earned 10 more Oaks points. The Phil D’Amato pupil had banked the same in the Chandelier, so she was doubling her tally to 20. Her stablemate from the D’Amato barn, Desert Dawn, checked in fourth and picked up five additional points, for a total of eight.

There was a 10-length gap back to longshot Fortunata Tensio in fifth. Next came Miss Everything; Cairo Memories, who had finished a lot closer to Eda in the Starlet; and Classical Romance. Micro Share was scratched.

Eda’s resume now reads 7-5-1-0, $430,000. The daughter of Munnings just missed by a head in her Sorrento (G2) stakes debut, followed by her only unplaced effort, a fifth in the Del Mar Debutante (G1), where she succumbed to a furious pace battle. Eda rebounded in the Oct. 24 Anoakia S., the beginning of her win skein including the Desi Arnaz, Starlet, and Santa Ysabel.

Bred by Nathan McCauley in Kentucky, Eda went to her current connections for $550,000 as an OBS March juvenile. Her dam, the Lemon Drop Kid mare Show Me, is a half to Grade 3 winner Aegean.