Gold Phoenix continues phenomenal run
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The latest milestone in the amazing career of the turf star Gold Phoenix was accomplished on Sunday with a thrilling victory in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes, a record sixth stakes win at Del Mar.
Gold Phoenix was tied with Admirably, Flawlessly, Formidable Man, How Now, and Midnight Storm before he won the $251,500 Eddie Read at 1 1/8 miles by a nose over pacesetter Cabo Spirit. Formidable Man finished third in the Read, beaten a head by Cabo Spirit.
“We knew Cabo Spirit would have an easy lead,” said Billy Koch of the Little Red Feather Racing partnership that co-owns Gold Phoenix. “What more can we say about Formidable Man? Gold Phoenix has a way of knowing where the wire is.”
Gold Phoenix, an 8-year-old gelding, will have a familiar late summer goal in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf on Aug. 29, a race he has won a record four times from 2022 to 2025.
A fifth consecutive win in the same stakes is a rarity in racing. Ben’s Cat won six consecutive runnings of the minor Mister Diz Stakes for Maryland-breds from 2010 to 2015 in a career that included 32 wins in 63 starts.
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A fifth stakes win in the same race for Gold Phoenix would be a record at a California track.
“That would be the cherry on top if we can achieve something like that,” trainer Phil D’Amato reflected on Wednesday. “I’m sure it will not be easy.”
Gold Phoenix won the 2023 Eddie Read and is the sixth two-time winner of the race, joining Wickerr (1981-1982), Fastness (1995-1996), Special Ring (2003-2004), Acclamation (2011-2012) and United (2020-2021).
The race was first run in 1974. Formidable Man won the 2025 Eddie Read Stakes.
Gold Phoenix, who races for Agave Racing, the Little Red Feather Racing partnership, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify, has won 13 of 34 starts and earned $2,587,087.
Earlier this year, he won two Grade 3 turf stakes at Santa Anita – the San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/2 miles in March and the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles in June, a race followed by the Eddie Read.
Gold Phoenix's three wins this year equal his career best for victories in a season since 2023, the year he also won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf at Santa Anita in a 10-1 upset. Kazushi Kimura rode Gold Phoenix in the Kilroe and is one of six riders to win aboard the Irish-bred since he arrived from Europe in 2021. Kyle Frey and Hector Berrios have won three times on Gold Phoenix. Flavien Prat has won twice. Kimura, Juan Hernandez, and Umberto Rispoli each have one stakes win.
“We’ve gotten some good rides by many jockeys,” D’Amato said.
The win in the $500,000 Kilroe Mile was worth $300,000, Gold Phoenix’s richest payday. He earned $200,000 for finishing fourth in the 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf and $250,000 for finishing fourth in the 2024 BC Turf. Last year, Gold Phoenix was fifth in the BC Turf at Del Mar.
In the last two years, Gold Phoenix has had the best finish of an American-based runner in the BC Turf.
“It’s been a great run,” Koch said.
The winner of the Del Mar Handicap receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.