D'Amato ready to run Gold Phoenix in San Luis Rey after sharp works

ARCADIA, Calif. – Unraced since a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar last November, Gold Phoenix is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita.

The 7-year-old Gold Phoenix has performed well enough in recent works to convince trainer Phil D’Amato to aim for the $100,000 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

“He’s breezed sensationally,” D’Amato said Sunday. “I’ve had four or five good five-eighths in him. For an old veteran, I haven’t seen him as sharp as he has been in these drills.”

The latest such workout occurred Sunday at Santa Anita when Gold Phoenix worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 on the infield training track.

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Owned by the partnership of Agave Racing, Little Red Feather Racing, Marsha Naify, and Sterling Stable, Gold Phoenix has won 8 of 23 starts and earned $1,787,757. He won two Grade 2 turf stakes in a six-race campaign in 2024 – the Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita in May and the Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles in August for the third consecutive year.

In the BC Turf, Gold Phoenix was dismissed at 32-1. He closed from eighth in a field of 13 to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind Rebel’s Romance, who was later named champion turf male of 2024.

D’Amato has three nominees for the San Luis Rey Stakes, including Easter and Divin Propos, who were second and fourth behind There Goes Harvard in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf on Feb. 8. D’Amato indicated Monday that he planned to enter all three.

There Goes Harvard has not resumed full training since that race and will miss the San Luis Rey Stakes, trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday.

D’Amato, whose stable thrives in turf races, will not have a runner for Sunday’s $100,000 China Doll Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf. The list of nominees for the one-mile race is led by stakes winners Casalu, Maysam, Take Another Card, and Will Then.

Will Then, winner of the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar last November, was scratched from the Pasadena Stakes against males on March 9 in favor of the China Doll by trainer Jonathan Thomas.

D’Amato, who won the 2021 China Doll with the nine-time stakes winner Going Global, has a few notable prospects for the 3-year-old filly turf division in the long-term with Canto Della Terra, Jungle Peace, and Thought Process.

Canto Della Terra, an Irish import, won her American debut in a six-furlong maiden race on turf on Jan. 19.

“She got a little sick on us,” D’Amato said. “She’ll be a contender in these races.”

Jungle Peace won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf on Feb. 15 and an allowance race at six furlongs on turf on March 9. She is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes on the hillside turf course on April 27.

Thought Process, winner of two one-mile turf stakes at Del Mar and Santa Anita last summer and fall, is nearing her first workout of the year. She has not raced since a ninth-place finish in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

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