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Unbridled’s Note overcame post position 12 on the Santa Anita downhill turf course to emerge victorious in the $100,000 Eddie D. Stakes on Sept. 28. The win pushed Unbridled’s Song over the $4 million mark in progeny earnings for 2012. Unbridled’s Note is the third stakes winner for his sire this month, which started off with a bang when Emcee took the Grade 1 Forego S. at Saratoga.

Unbridled’s Note had to deal with more than just the outside post in the Eddie D. (formerly the Morvich S.); the 3-year-old colt was facing older horses and trying the turf for the first time in his career. Despite the obstacles, the Steve Asmussen trainee proved up to the task. Breaking alertly, Corey Nakatani had his mount just a couple lengths off the lead for the first half-mile. Three-wide when he crossed the dirt course, Unbridled’s Note bore down on the frontrunners to strike the front in deep stretch and pulled away late to win by 1 1/4-lengths. The final time for the 6 1/2-furlongs was 1:12.45.

Unbridled’s Note proves best in G3 Eddie D. stakes

“It’s an honor to win this race,” Nakatani said. “Eddie (Delahoussaye, the Hall of Fame rider for whom the race was named) was one of the guys I idolized when I first started. It’s good to get that first stakes win for the meet out of the way. This horse is a good enough horse to put me in the position I needed to be in to win. The key is if they handle it, and he handled it just fine. It’s Eddie D.’s day today, though. He’s a great asset to the sport.”

“First time on turf, but Unbridled’s Songs (the colt’s sire) generally like it,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi noted. “This puts us in a position to make the Breeders’ Cup (Turf Sprint, G1) with him. I just told Corey to put him in a good spot and see if he liked it or not. They either like it or they don’t, but he’s bred to like the grass and he’s a really talented colt.

“It was a pretty dominating performance, I thought, and usually when you run them back the second time, hopefully they run better because they have a little more direction. Corey gave him a great trip, gave him horses to follow, got across the dirt, the horse finished up beautiful.”

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint will be run Nov. 3 at Santa Anita. With the win, Unbridled’s Note pushed his earnings to $195,741, with a mark of 3-0-2 in seven starts. In his two previous stakes starts, both on dirt at Saratoga, he finished third in the Grade 2 Amsterdam S. and the Grade 1 Kings Bishop S.