Fastness Becomes the Second Two-Time Winner of Eddie Read

Holding off Smooth Runner at the wire, Fastness became the second two-time winner of the Eddie Read Handicap on Sunday, winning the $313,000 race by a half-length before 18,434 at Del Mar.

Wickerr also won the 1 1/8-mile turf race twice, in 1981-82. A 1 1/4-length winner of the Read last year, Fastness just missed winning the race in 1994, losing by a neck to Approach The Bench.

Fastness’ fourth consecutive victory came in 1:47, which missed the stakes and course record set by Al Mamoon in 1986. Carrying 124 pounds, 10 more than Smooth Runner, Fastness was ridden by Corey Nakatani. Fastness, earning $193,000 for his owners, C.N. and Carol Ray, paid $2.80 to win.

Gold And Steel finished third in a field of six.

Horse Racing Notes

Prepping for a showdown in the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 24, Preakness winner Louis Quatorze won the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes by a neck over Will’s Way, and Skip Away was a one-length winner over Dr. Caton in the $750,000 Haskell Handicap. A crowd of 53,574, second largest in Saratoga history, watched the Jim Dandy. . . . Torch Rouge, ridden by Mark Guidry, won the $200,000 Arlington Handicap for trainer Bobby Frankel while his odds-on favorite, Raintrap, was running fourth.