Edison, 3-year-old son of Bernardini who cost $950,000 last March, graduated in a front-running style on the Gulfstream Park turf in his second maiden special weight start Jan. 26 (VIDEO).
He was the second son of Bernardini to break his maiden on turf in the past week for the winning connections—owners Susan Magner, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, and trainer Todd Pletcher. Bernardini, not generally regarded as a top sire of turf horses, also sired Gala Award, who broke his maiden going 1 1/16 miles on the grass at Gulfstream Jan. 20 after having run second in his Dec. 7 debut.
Ridden in the eighth race by Luis Saez, 8-1 shot Edison broke running the rail post and never stopped, leaving 6-5 favorite Notability behind at the top of the stretch. He pulled pulling clear to win by 4 3/4 lengths in 1:49.22 for nine furlongs on a firm turf course.
Edison, purchased for $950,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's Florida sale at the Palm Meadows training facility last March, finished fifth in his debut going 1 1/16 miles on the Gulfstream grass Dec. 22.
"We didn't really have much of a plan," Pletcher said. "I just told Luis that this horse has got one strong, steady run in him. He's not quick, but he's steady. The main thing was just to get him into a good rhythm. He got a good start and Luis took advantage of it.
"He ran well. It was an improvement from his first race, and we thought the way he trained after his first race really helped him. We felt like he moved forward after having run."
Bred in Florida by Destiny Oaks of Ocala out of the winning Exploit mare Heart of Grace, Edison returned $18 to win. After an opening quarter mile in :23.68, he and Notability opened up 10 1/2 lengths on the rest of the field through a half-mile in :47.95 and six furlongs in 1:11.82. Four More rallied to be second, a length a head of Notability.
It was the meet-leading 35th victory for Pletcher
"In their cases, I think what they need is a route of ground, so it was more about getting them stretched out," Pletcher said of his recent maiden turf winners. "Sometimes, that's easier to do early on in a horse's career on the grass. We'll see. I think both of them have a pedigree that suggest they might be on the dirt later on."
