ARCADIA – Phil D’Amato’s Breeders’ Cup chances are getting better and better, in weirder and weirder ways.
The trainer capped a Saturday stakes double and a weekend stakes four-bagger at Santa Anita when Iron Man Cal and jockey Antonio Fresu won the $100,000, Grade III Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds, doing it through the disqualification of first-place finishers Artislas and Reylu Gutierrez.
Two hours earlier, D’Amato had sent out heavily favored Thought Process to win under Hector Berrios in the $100,000, Grade III Surfer Girl Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the winner getting it done by springing an unexpected change of tactics and opening a clear lead from the start.
The day before, D’Amato had scored upsets with the fillies Hang the Moon in the Rodeo Drive Stakes on grass and One Magic Philly in the Chillingworth Stakes sprint.
“A win is a win,” D’Amato said after the victory by Iron Man Cal (who paid $4.60), which saw him finish second in a three-way photo in the 1-mile Zuma Beach but be declared the winner when the Santa Anita stewards correctly took Artislas down to third for drifting out and side-swiping Iron Man Cal in the stretch, causing him to bump Sabertooth.
D’Amato’s weekend haul set up three of his horses for shots at Breeders’ Cup races Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar: Iron Man Cal for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Thought Process for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and 4-year-old Hang the Moon for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The fourth winner, 3-year-old One Magic Philly, may be kept in competition with her age group for the rest of 2024 instead of trying elders in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
In addition, D’Amato plans to have Gold Phoenix in the Breeders’ Cup Turf for the third year in a row, and could have Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He said Iscreamuscream is likely to kept with fellow 3-year-olds after she ran fourth behind Hang the Moon on Saturday.
California’s leading trainer of turf specialists has won one Breeders’ Cup race, with Obviously in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, from among 32 starters.
Breeders’ Cup “pre-entries” must be submitted by Oct. 21.
Both Iron Man Cal and Thought Process are offspring of Collected and are owned all or in part by Little Red Feather Racing.
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Thought Process ($2.40) came out of a win in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes in which she rallied from third. Berrios had a similar plan of attack Saturday, but he shifted gears when eventual runner-up Casalu and Kazushi Kimura didn’t go to the lead as they’d done in previous races.
“Hector smartly just took the lead and went the shortest way around (the track),” D’Amato said. “It’s very impressive the way she’s (Thought Process) doing things. She actually has more in the tank. I’m sure when we get to the Breeders’ Cup, she’ll need more in the tank.”