Formidable Man returns to Santa Anita for Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile showdown

Formidable Man is not coming back to Santa Anita to get a race into him. Michael McCarthy and the Warren stable are putting the 5-year-old City of Light colt in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on Monday, May 25, 2026, to see whether he can separate himself from the older turf-male pack and claim the West Coast mile crown for the rest of the year.

The Shoemaker Mile will go as a $300,000 guaranteed Grade 1 turf mile for 3-year-olds and up at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, with $180,000 to the winner. The 10-race Memorial Day weekend card carries first post at 1 p.m. PT, and the Shoemaker is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT. It lands in the middle of a loaded holiday program that also features the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes and the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup, which gives the race the feel of a division checkpoint rather than a routine spring return.

That is the point of the spot. Formidable Man was second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1, 2025, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Notable Speech in 1:33.66 on firm turf. Before that, he had already stacked up a strong California résumé with wins in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile and the Grade 2 Eddie Read. He won the Del Mar Mile by 1 1/2 lengths on Aug. 30, 2025, and at that moment he still had not lost at Del Mar. This is the profile of a horse who has already shown he belongs with the best, not one being asked to prove basic fitness off the bench.

The Shoemaker field gives him that chance in a serious setting. Santa Anita listed a nine-horse lineup led by Formidable Man, El Potente and last year’s winner King of Gosford, with Almendares also among the graded-quality rivals. Flavien Prat, back aboard Formidable Man for the first time since the colt’s maiden win in September 2023, will ride him at 124 pounds. The race is also set up as a direct test of the current hierarchy, since Phil D’Amato has won five Shoemaker Miles since 2014, including two of the last four on turf with King of Gosford last year.

The nomination conditions underscore how much is at stake. Subscriptions were due by May 10, 2026, with a $2,250 fee to enter and another $2,250 to start, or a $6,000 supplementary nomination. If Formidable Man handles this field, he becomes the horse everyone else on the West Coast mile scene has to go through for the summer and beyond. If he does not, the division stays open, and the older turf-male hierarchy stays in someone else’s hands.