The domestic focus on the Memorial Day holiday squarely centers on Santa Anita, which offers a pair of $300,000 Grade 1 turf stakes and the $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup (G2) at 1 ¼ miles on the main track.
The Shoemaker Mile offers the team of trainer Michael McCarthy and jockey Umberto Rispoli an excellent opportunity to keep the party going. They were the toast of the racing world last weekend when Journalism gallantly won the Preakness Stakes (G1).
This time, they try to bag another Grade 1 with Formidable Man, winner of the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1) here on March 1.
Rispoli gave the 4-year-old colt a beautiful ride in the Kilroe, saving every possible inch of ground before finding room on the rail for Formidable Man’s fourth win in the last five races.
FORMIDABLE indeed! ✨
FORMIDABLE MAN and @umbyrispoli take the G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile @santaanitapark for @mwmracing 🇺🇸
— World Horse Racing (@WHR) March 2, 2025
His only defeat in that span came when he left the cozy confines of his Southern California base to run 12th in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) at Gulfstream Park in January.
Formidable Man is well rested, and well spotted, to once again let the good times roll. He loves the distance with a career mark of 3-1-0 in five tries. Don’t discount the home turf advantage with a mark of 2-1-0 in four races over the Santa Anita course.
The field also includes the venerable Goliad, an 8-year-old gelding making his season debut for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella.
A career winner of $1.7 million, Goliad last appeared in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) on the turf where he set the pace before fading to ninth.
Expect to find him on the lead once again but it is doubtful he can withstand Formidable Man’s late charge.
Post time for the Shoemaker mile is 8 p.m. ET.
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Lady Claypoole aims for the next logical goal, a Grade 1 victory, in the Gamely for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles.
She is unbeaten in three starts this year, a streak that started with a pair of allowance wins. Lady Claypoole moved up the class ladder most recently to take the Santa Ana (G3). She landed the rail in the nine-horse field and that should not be an issue for a closer who loves to save valuable ground.
Lady Claypoole is a solid stretch runner who only needs an opening in the lane to unleash her closing kick.
The team to fear could once again be Rispoli and McCarthy who send out Liguria. She has a third and a win in Buena Vista (G2) since joining the McCarthy barn after starting her career with Chad Brown.
Saffie Joseph, Jr. is in town from Florida for the California stakes action. The trainer sends out Be Your Best, the 7-1 upset winner of the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2) back in January. She faded to eighth most recently in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
Saffie Joseph’s best stakes payday probably comes in the Hollywood Gold Cup with the well-travelled Skippylongstocking.
This will be the 6-year-old’s second visit to Santa Anita, having run third in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).
In the past year, “Skippy” has competed in Kentucky, New York, West Virginia, California, Florida and Arkansas.
He was third most recently in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Skippy is always game, but 10 furlongs might be a stretch. He is winless in two tries at the distance.
The 1 1/4 miles is a question mark for each of the seven runners. Nobody in the field has won at the distance on the main track. Four have never attempted it.
That uncertainty opens the door for an up-and-comer like Extensive, yet another trainee in stakes parade from the McCarthy barn.
Only this time the jockey is Flavien Prat aboard the 4-year-old making only his fifth career start. Extensive enters on a two-race winning streak: his maiden win and an allowance victory. Both were decisive scores by more than three lengths.
The son of City of Light is getting stronger as the distances stretch out. This could be his chance to shine.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
