John Henry is a means to an end for Gold Phoenix

Gold Phoenix could easily stay in trainer Phil D’Amato’s barn at Santa Anita on Saturday as opposed to starting in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship.

Gold Phoenix won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Sept. 3, securing a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 5. That race remains Gold Phoenix’s goal later this fall.

But the $200,000 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles provides a valuable chance for experience in advance of what will be the toughest race of Gold Phoenix’s career.

“He’s a lightly raced horse,” D’Amato said. “Just running him instead of breezing him is probably best for him. He doesn’t have to win, but I’d like to see him run a good race that would propel him to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Owned by the partnership of Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify, Gold Phoenix will be favored in the John Henry Turf Championship, the third race on a 10-race program that includes six stakes.

In the Del Mar Handicap, Gold Phoenix closed from 10th in a field of 11 to win by a head under jockey Flavien Prat. Juan Hernandez has the mount for the first time on Saturday.

A winner of 3 of 8 starts, Gold Phoenix is part of a field of six in the John Henry that includes the D’Amato-trained Masteroffoxhounds; Dicey Mo Chara, who was third in the Del Mar Handicap; and Breakpoint, the winner of the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in June.

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Masteroffoxhounds was near the front in the first mile of the Del Mar Handicap, and led in the stretch before fading to finish 3 1/4 lengths behind Gold Phoenix. Masteroffoxhounds is a danger from the front in the John Henry Turf Championship.

“I think an eighth of a mile less on a little faster turf course will work for him,” D’Amato said. “He should be the speed, or close to it.

“I think Masteroffoxhounds should fit into a nice spot, pace scenario-wise. I like his chances as well.”

Dicey Mo Chara is winless in six starts in stakes in the last year, finishing second or third in three of those races. He was beaten a half-length in the Del Mar Handicap, closing from seventh along the rail in the final quarter-mile.

Trainer Leonard Powell expects the 4-year-old Dicey Mo Chara to display another late kick in the John Henry.

“Sometimes, things don’t go his way,” Powell said. “He’s shown before he fits with these.”

Tropical Terror and Cash Equity will be longshots. Cash Equity, trained by D’Amato, has been gelded since he finished a troubled eighth in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar in July in his American stakes debut.

The French-bred Cash Equity placed in three minor stakes at 1 1/4 miles in France last year and won an allowance race at Santa Anita at the distance in May in his only American attempt at the distance.

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