Eddie Read

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

A well-matched field of six, minus GLOBAL HUNTER (Arg) (Jade Hunter), who

instead ran Saturday in the San Diego H. (G2), will contest Sunday's $400,000

Eddie Read H. (G1) at Del Mar. With LAVA MAN (Slew City Slew) and STORM MILITARY

(Arg) (Bernstein) likely to ensure a sensible pace, our attention turns to the

various closers, and we'll side with MONZANTE (Maria's Mon) to get his first

graded victory in the 1 1/8-mile turf contest.

Imported from England last summer, Monzante has spent much of his time in

this country competing over synthetic surfaces with reasonable success. He

captured two of his first four outings, including the Santana Mile H., but was

only sixth of eight in the Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2). For his most recent start,

Monzante was switched back to the turf for the Charles Whittingham Memorial H.

(G1), where he rallied from 14 lengths down to finish second by a neck at 13-1.

Though winless in four starts over turf in Europe, bettors seemingly overlooked

the top notch company Monzante had previously bowed to, including English

classic winners Light Shift and Lucarno (Dynaformer).

WHATSTHESCRIPT (Ire) (Royal Applause [GB]) turned in a powerful effort to

win the American H. (G2) last out in his first start back from a six-month

layoff. The main knock is that he will be a drastically lower price than the

29-1 on offer in the American, and having missed the wedding it doesn't often

pay to go to the funeral. Whatsthescript perhaps was an overlay given his

generally favorable history, but was not given much credit due to frequent,

lengthy absences.

Lava Man bypassed a potentially historic run for a fourth consecutive

Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) last month to concentrate on turf racing, which the

veteran seems to be handling better than synthetic these days. He opened up an

early five-length lead in the Whittingham, then held on gamely through the

stretch to finish only a neck back in third. Even if past his prime, he still

looks capable of sharing against a field of this quality.

Storm Military, the other speedster, finished 1 1/4 lengths second in the

American, and before then was caught at the wire after making a brief lead late in

the Dallas Turf Cup (G3). The Argentine Group 1 winner has only risen to the

success of listed winner in this country, but might hold on longer than expected

if an early duel is avoided.

SPRING HOUSE (Chester House) makes his first appearance under silks since

finishing 10th in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-G1) in March. He had won two of his three

prior starts including the San Luis Obispo H. (G2) and Carleton F. Burke H.

(G3), but we wonder whether the six-year-old will be as effective at races under

1 1/2 miles.

Making his American debut in the Eddie Read is FERNELEY (Ire) (Ishiguru), who

three starts back captured the Amethyst S. (Ire-G3) over a mile at Leopardstown.

That was the highlight of a generally undistinguished European tenure which

included numerous losses at the listed level.