Bowies Hero fresher, sharper for this year's Del Mar Mile

DEL MAR, Calif. – In his 19-race career, Bowies Hero has never won consecutive stakes, a statistic trainer Phil D’Amato hopes to reverse in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf.

Bowies Hero won the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf here July 21 and will start favored in a competitive running of the $200,000 Del Mar Mile.

Last summer, Bowies Hero was 11th in the Del Mar Mile as the 3-1 favorite, his fifth and final start of 2018. This year, Bowies Hero approaches the race in much brighter condition, his trainer insists.

“Last year, he had had a lot of races and miles,” D’Amato said. “We had too many races. This year, I have a fresh horse. After all these years, I have his number. ”

Bowies Hero, 5, joined D’Amato’s stable in summer 2016. Sunday, Bowies Hero is part of a field of 11 in the Del Mar Mile and will need to be in peak form to beat stablemates Prince Earl and What a View as well as rivals that include the 2019 stakes winners Bolo, Bombard, Grecian Fire, Majestic Eagle, and Ohio.

Owned by the partnership of Agave Racing Stable, Erik Johnson, Madaket Stables, and Rockin Robin Racing Stable, Bowies Hero will have his fourth start of the year Sunday. He was sixth in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in April and third behind Bolo in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 27 at Santa Anita.

In the Shoemaker Mile, Bowies Hero closed from eighth in the final quarter-mile to be closest to the front at the finish. In the Eddie Read, he closed from fifth in a field of six to take the lead with more than a furlong remaining, winning easily by 2 1/4 lengths.

The Del Mar Mile is a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. Bowies Hero was 11th in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and D’Amato wants to try the BC Mile this fall.

“I’m happy with the way he’s going,” D’Amato said. “The plan this year is the Breeders’ Cup 100 percent.”

As a closer, Bowies Hero should have a pace to follow from runners such as What a View, Bolo, and Bombard. What a View was third in the California Dreamin’ Stakes for California-breds at 1 1/16 miles on turf July 26 in his first start of 2019.

“Don’t forget about What a View,” D’Amato said. “He needed that race off an 11-month layoff. The extra sixteenth got to him.”

D’Amato admits he is taking a chance in the Del Mar Mile with Prince Earl, who has not raced since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby here last November. Prince Earl underwent arthroscopic surgery to have a bone chip removed and had a procedure to improve his breathing, D’Amato said.

“If he wasn’t training as good as he is, we wouldn’t entertain this,” D’Amato said. “He’s a happy, strong horse. We’re taking a swing.”

Bolo was held out of the Eddie Read because of a shoeing issue, trainer Carla Gaines said Friday. Bolo earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Mile by leading throughout to win the Shoemaker Mile.

The presence of What a View may keep Bolo from setting the pace, which is not a concern for Gaines. She says the 7-year-old gelding can be patient for jockey Florent Geroux.

“He’s a free-running horse,” she said.

Geroux traveled to Del Mar on Aug. 8 to work Bolo on grass and gave Gaines a positive review of the five-furlong workout.

“He told me to run him, and that’s what I’m doing,” she said.

The Del Mar Mile will be a class test for Grecian Fire, his first start in a Grade 2 race.

A Grade 3 winner on the synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields in May, Grecian Fire overcame significant trouble to win the California Dreamin’ Stakes in his first start for trainer Keith Desormeaux.

“The way he got stopped and rallied to win, it was incredible,” Desormeaux said.

This tougher race has left Desormeaux with a cautious outlook.

“You get a horse that’s successful in statebred company and you run in a Grade 2, it’s a different game,” Desormeaux said.