Formidable Man makes 5-year-old debut in Shoemaker Mile

He was excellent as a 3-year-old in 2024 and brilliant last year at 4. Understandably, Formidable Man carries high expectations when he starts for the first time as a 5-year-old in Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita.

Consider his record in the second half of 2025. Formidable Man won consecutive starts in Grade 2 races on turf at Del Mar last summer – the Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in July, and the Del Mar Mile in late August.

Formidable Man was second at 18-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar last November, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind 5-2 favorite Notable Speech.

It’s safe to say the BC Mile has been a productive race. Notable Speech, the champion turf male of 2025, won the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at a mile on turf in Britain on May 16. Rhetorical, who finished fourth, won the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 2.

Formidable Man, trained by Michael McCarthy for William and Suzanne Warren, can add to that honor roll in the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile, the richest annual turf race at Santa Anita.

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A winner of 8 of 16 starts, Formidable Man has won six turf stakes in Southern California in the last 23 months – five at Del Mar, and the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in March 2025.

Formidable Man will be the focus of attention in the Shoemaker, but the timing of the race is a slight concern for McCarthy.

“I would like to have had one more five-eighths [workout,]” McCarthy said. “It was tight to get him here.

“Everything has gone according to plan. He seems like he is going into this the race the right way.”

Formidable Man has had two works at three furlongs, two at a half-mile, and two at five furlongs since April 11.

“He puts just enough into them to get something out of his works,” McCarthy said. “He’s a smart horse with a good mind. Six works is never easy going into a Grade 1, but it’s time to get started.”

Formidable Man will start from the inside post in an expected field of eight. El Potente, a two-time Grade 3 winner who was second in the Grade 2 Frank Kilroe Mile in March last time out, will be withdrawn because of a fever, trainer Dan Blacker said on Friday. The Kilroe Mile was downgraded from a Grade 1 to a Grade 2 this year.

El Potente drew the inside post, which Formidable Man has inherited. Formidable Man races as a stalker and will be in pursuit of the upstart 4-year-old Call Me Cory, who has led throughout a maiden race and an allowance race in his last two starts during a four-race career.

The Shoemaker Mile will be Call Me Cory’s stakes debut.

“My horse is really fast,” said Ryan Hanson, who trains Call Me Cory. “Speed is probably his best weapon. I don’t see any reason to change that.

“He runs good on turf. He deserves a chance in here.”

The chasing pack will include Almendares, Genius Jimmy, Seal Team, and King of Gosford – the first four finishers of the Grade 3 American Stakes, plus Mi Hermano Ramon, who is winless in seven starts since the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar in November 2024.

King of Gosford and Mi Hermano Ramon were first and second in the 2025 Shoemaker Mile. Formidable Man finished fourth, closing well late.

Almendares and King of Gosford are trained by Phil D’Amato, who has won the Shoemaker Mile five times since 2014.

The American Stakes was King of Gosford’s first start since a last-place finish of six in the Del Mar Mile last August.

“He’ll be better second time off the bench,” D’Amato said. “He’s going in with a couple of good drills.

Almendares won his first graded stakes in his 14th attempt in the American Stakes as the 8-5 favorite. He closed from sixth of seven in the final furlong.

“I like the way he won and the style that he did it,” D’Amato said. “He sits back and makes a run and that’s what he wants to do.”

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