Unbridled's Note won the $100,000 Eddie D Stakes by 1-1/4 lengths Friday on the opening day of Santa Anita's autumn meet.
Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Unbridled's Note covered 6-1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course in 1 minute, 12.45 seconds and paid $8 to win as the 3-1 favorite. Chosen Miracle was second, and Mensa Heat was another neck back in third.
Formerly run as the Morvich Stakes, the Eddie D was named in honor of retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, who won his 6,000th career race at Santa Anita and presented the trophy.
''It's an honor to win this race,'' Nakatani said. ''Eddie was one of the guys I idolized when I first started.''
Trained by Steve Asmussen, Unbridled's Note had been idle since he finished third in the Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25. The 3-year-old colt ran on turf for the first time.
Assistant trainer Scott Blasi, filling in for Asmussen, said Unbridled's Note would be pointed toward the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
''It was a pretty dominating performance, I thought, and usually when you run them back the second time, hopefully, they run better,'' he said.
The victory, worth $60,000, increased Unbridled's Note's career earnings to $195,741, with seven wins.
Opening day attracted 5,775, a slight increase over last year, when 5,739 were on hand for the fall opener.
