D'Amato looks to rebound after rare month without stakes win

Dry January had a different meeting for Phil D’Amato, the prominent Southern California trainer.

For the first time since last March, D’Amato’s powerful stable did not have a monthly stakes win, although the drought does merit an asterisk. D’Amato had runners in seven stakes at three tracks last month, including Shea Brennan, who was disqualified from first and placed second for causing interference in the California Cup Derby at Santa Anita on Jan. 18.

The situation has not caused a panic. D’Amato said last weekend that several of his leading runners are in the midst of wintertime rests and will return soon.

“I’ve got a lot of good stock,” he said. “I was in the slow January deal and I think we’ll be busy for late February and March.”

Last year, D’Amato ranked 12th in the nation with stable earnings of more than $11.2 million, just shy of his personal record of more than $11.9 million in 2022.

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On Saturday at Santa Anita, D’Amato has entered Divin Propos and Easter in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes, a $100,000 race at 1 1/4 miles on turf. The stable does not have a runner in Sunday’s $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the hillside turf course.

Divin Propos, fifth in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 29 behind fellow San Marcos entrant Truly Quality, will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli for the second time. Rispoli was aboard Divin Propos in the Hollywood Turf Cup.

A two-time winner in France in 2023, Divin Propos won a 1 1/4-mile allowance race at Santa Anita this past June in his American debut before later winning over 1 3/8 miles at Del Mar in August.

“Umberto has breezed him and gotten to known him better,” D’Amato said.

Easter, a two-time stakes winner in late 2023, was fourth by 2 1/4 lengths behind top California turf miler Johannes in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

In the coming weeks, several prominent D'Amato runners will start in stakes or return to the barn from winter breaks.

Uncorked, winner of the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares last April, is a candidate for the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at a mile on turf on March 1. Uncorked was second in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 2 in her last start.

Conclude, a four-time stakes winner who was third in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf on Sept. 28, and Thought Process, a two-time stakes winner who was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1, are nearing a return to the stable from local farms.

Iron Man Cal, second by a neck at 29-1 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1, and Hong Kong Harry, a four-time stakes winner in 2022 and 2023, are nearing their first workouts of the year.

On March 1, Almendares, second in the City of Hope Mile but ninth in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar on Nov. 30, is a candidate for the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile, a $300,000 turf race. The Kilroe will not include Balnikhov, a four-time stakes winner who was 10th of 12 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25.

“We’ll give him a mini-vacation,” D’Amato said of Balnikhov.

Race plans are uncertain for Stronghold, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last April who finished 10th of 11 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on dirt at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25. Stakes at Oaklawn Park and Santa Anita this spring are under consideration.

“It’s the right thing to give them time,” D’Amato said. “Over the years, I like that philosophy to give them a nice freshening and having a nice last two-thirds of the year. That leaves them with their best chance to be ready for the Breeders’ Cup and have some fresh legs.

“You’ll see me run a lot of stakes horses in coming months.”

D’Amato did not win a Breeders’ Cup race at Del Mar in November, but his runners earned $1 million over the event's two days.

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