Square Eddie Rested, Back With O'Neill

J. Paul Reddam’s Square Eddie   has returned to trainer Doug O’Neill’s Hollywood Park barn following a couple weeks’ rest at Magali Farms near Santa Ynez, Calif.

“He went to the track for the first time yesterday morning,” Reddam said Nov. 23. “He came back to Doug’s barn about five days ago and just walked for a few days.”

Square Eddie won the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (gr. I) at Keeneland prior to running second to Midshipman in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Santa Anita.

“Nothing was wrong with him -- we just thought that after Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup we should give him a little rest,” Reddam said.

Square Eddie is not scheduled to run again in 2008, which means he won’t compete in the Dec. 20 CashCall Futurity (gr. I) at Hollywood. Reddam’s CashCall firm sponsors the $750,000 stakes.

“We’re thinking maybe he’ll start next in the Lewis (the Feb. 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, gr. II, at Santa Anita),” Reddam said. “But Doug may start him even earlier, perhaps in the (Jan. 12) San Rafael (gr. II).”

Square Eddie is being pointed to the May 2 Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Because Churchill Downs has a dirt surface, Reddam and O’Neill want to give the colt a prep over a dirt track. That could mean that Square Eddie might run in the Feb. 7 Risen Star Stakes (gr. III) at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans instead of in the Lewis.

“We want to give him some dirt experience early in the year,” said O’Neill. The California-based trainer has 18 stalls this season at the Fair Grounds.

A son of Smart Strike--Forty Gran, by El Gran Senor, Square Eddie made his first four starts in England, three on the turf and one on a synthetic surface. His two U.S. starts have also come over synthetic surfaces. Reddam purchased Square Eddie privately from British owner David Gorton in September.