Maiden King

Although he’s been alive and well for 98 years, Hennessy — the cognac, not the sire — almost killed Eddie Logan on Saturday.

The 98-year-old iconic Santa Anita shoeshiner, and namesake for the Eddie Logan Stakes, has been at Santa Anita every opening day since the place began running on Christmas 1934.

But last Saturday, Logan drank some Hennessy cognac while on blood pressure medication and needed to be rushed to Arcadia Methodist Hospital where he was treated for a seizure.

At about 4 p.m. Saturday, Logan was sitting outside the window of Cece Connor, the paymaster of purses, “when I noticed him gasping. I called our first aid department, then 911.”

Santa Anita gift shop manager Christine Crocker said the apparent seizure was caused by Logan drinking his beloved Hennessy while blood pressure medication was in his system.

  “Although he knows better, Eddie has done this in the past and has said many times, ‘I’m going to go sometime, so it might as well be by doing something I like,” Crocker told CalRacing Stable Notes’ Ed Golden.

Logan spent Saturday night in intensive care, according to Crocker, but his family said he would be back to shining shoes at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

In 2006, the Hill Rise Stakes for two-year-olds was renamed the Eddie Logan Stakes. The well-loved shoe shine man typically greets customers and horseplayers strolling by his stand with “have a lucky day.”

I guess Saturday was Eddie Logan’s lucky day.