Count Again © Benoit Photo

The 50th running of the Eddie Read Stakes will take place at Del Mar Sunday, going as Race 9 on an 11-race card. The day also will offer a “mandatory” Pick Six pool payout that easily could rise into the millions.

Eddie Read was Del Mar’s very first publicist going back to the track’s opening in 1937. He was a mainstay at the track for more than three decades and this race was named in his honor after his passing with the first running going off in 1974.

This year’s renewal of the nine-furlong turf headliner has drawn nine older horses and the one to beat in the bunch might be the oldest of the bunch – the 8-year-old veteran Count Again, who comes into the $250,000, Grade II offering off a two and a quarter length tally in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 30 – though that was 14 months ago. The old pro by Awesome Again became a millionaire that day ($1,069,915) in registering his seventh victory, all on the green. He is owned by Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm and has been training forwardly for this comeback.

Del Mar’s morning line maker Jon White was impressed enough with his prior record and current training to make him the 3-1 favorite in the headliner.

Umberto Rispoli picks up the mount on the bay for trainer Phil D’Amato and will break from the outside gate for the run down the infield chute on Sunday.

The chief threats to the top one appear to reside on the shedrows near him in the D’Amato barn. The conditioner also will saddle Little Red Feather and Sterling Stable’s Gold Phoenix, Little Red Feather and Madaket Stable’s Balnikhov and Rockingham Ranch’s Masteroffoxhounds.

Here’s the full field for the headliner from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Auyeung, Crosby or Hauck, et al’s I’mgonnabesomebody (Kyle Frey, 20-1); Gold Phoenix (Hector Berrios, 4-1); Balnikhov (Antonio Fresu, 4-1); Masteroffoxhounds (Edwin Maldonado, 8-1); Red Baron’s Barn or Rancho Temescal’s Dicey Mo Chara (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Kretz Racing’s Cabo Spirit (Joe Bravo, 5-1); CYBT, Lantzman or Nentwig, et al’s Handy Dandy (Ramon Vazquez, 12-1); ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables, et al’s Mackinnon (Tiago Pereira, 8-1), and Count Again.

The Read will have a post time of approximately 6 p.m. First post for the afternoon will be 2 p.m.

Sunday will also be a “mandatory” payout day for the track’s popular Pick Six bet, meaning there will be no carryovers and all monies in the pool will be paid out no matter the number of winners. There is a potential that the pot for the wager could rise to the $2.5 to $3 million range. The Pick Six is conducted on the final six races on the card, in this case Races 6 through 11.