D’Amato sends King of Gosford, Almendares into Shoemaker Mile defense

Phil D’Amato will attack the Shoemaker Mile from two angles, and both could be live at once. On Monday, May 25 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, the Grade I, $300,000 turf mile will be a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and D’Amato will send out King of Gosford, the defending champion, and Almendares, a horse arriving in form on the same holiday card that also features the Grade I Gamely Stakes and Grade II Hollywood Gold Cup. First post is set for 1 p.m. PT, and the race will sit at the center of four straight days of racing.

King of Gosford gives D’Amato the proven path. Last year’s Shoemaker Mile winner rallied from mid-pack under Flavien Prat, got up in a three-way photo and stopped the clock in 1:33.52 for 1 mile on firm turf. He beat Mi Hermano Ramon by a neck, with Cabo Spirit third, and the performance helped make him Santa Anita’s Horse of the Meet in the year-end media poll. The colt returned from a 7 1/2-month layoff after being cut up behind in the Del Mar Mile, and his second start back came in the American Stakes, a setup that points him toward another run at the same target.

Almendares offers the other route. He comes into the Shoemaker Mile off a neck victory in the American Stakes, a result that showed he is still moving forward and can land a punch against graded-company milers. If King of Gosford is the class and closing-trip option, Almendares is the horse that can keep the pressure on from a more current form line, giving D’Amato a second way to control the race without needing the same scenario.

That matters in a nine-horse field that looks more like a veteran summit than a test of raw upside. The lineup includes one 7-year-old, four 6-year-olds, three 5-year-olds and only one 4-year-old, a profile that says Santa Anita turf milers still reward seasoning, positioning and patience. The race conditions assign 118 pounds to 3-year-olds and 126 to older horses, with allowances available for graded-stakes performances at a mile or longer, but the deeper lesson is tactical: at this level, the winner often is the horse whose rider gets the cleanest trip, not necessarily the flashiest turn of foot.

Formidable Man raises the class ceiling. Michael McCarthy’s 5-year-old, second in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar, is set to make his 2026 debut here with Flavien Prat in the irons, and that gives the race a clear outside force if he returns ready. For D’Amato, though, the numbers already tell the story: he is chasing a sixth Shoemaker Mile win, with previous victories in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2025. In a race built for pace judgment and trip management, he has the rare luxury of choosing between a champion’s replay and a form horse on the rise.