California-based trainer Phil D’Amato may have two starters in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 11 – Stronghold, a Grade 1 winner in 2024, and the recent acquisition Maximum Bourbon. Stronghold was scratched from the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita last Sunday in favor of a start at Keeneland or Oaklawn Park in coming weeks. The $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint at six furlongs is one of those potential targets, D’Amato said. Maximum Bourbon was purchased for $400,000 by Agave Racing in the Fasig-Tipton March digital sale, the most expensive hip among 191 horses. Previously trained by Joe Sharp, Maximum Bourbon, a 4-year-old gelding by Maximum Security, has won 3 of 5 starts and earned $124,824. Maximum Bourbon won consecutive allowance races at six furlongs at Fair Grounds in January and March before finishing second to Built in an allowance there on March 13. Built, trained by Wayne Catalano, ran six furlongs in a track-record time of 1:07.96 that day, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 106. Maximum Bourbon was beaten 1 1/2 lengths and earned a Beyer Figure of 103. :: Live racing action at Oaklawn Park! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Built is scheduled to start in the $200,000 St. Matthews Stakes at six furlongs at Churchill Downs on Aug. 30, according to Aron Wellman, who heads Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which owns the 4-year-old colt. The St. Matthews Stakes is restricted to nonwinners of a graded stakes since the beginning of 2025. This weekend, D’Amato has two leading candidates in Sunday’s $100,000 Providencia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita in Darya and Inbox. Sunday is the final day of the track’s winter-spring meeting. A spring meeting begins on April 17. On Friday at Santa Anita, D’Amato starts The Padre, a two-time stakes winner last summer, in an ultra-tough allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on turf. All six runners are group or graded stakes winners – Astronomer, Cabo Spirit, Gran Oriente, Hiding in Honduras, and Mi Hermano Ramon. “I think it should be a stakes race, by all accounts,” D’Amato said. The Padre, a 4-year-old Irish-bred colt by the Dubawi stallion Ghaiyyath, was second in an allowance race at Santa Anita in his first start in the United States last June. He was unbeaten in two starts on turf for 3-year-olds at the Del Mar summer meeting – the La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles in early August and the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby four weeks later. Friday’s race could lead to a stakes appearance at Churchill Downs or Santa Anita for The Padre, who races for the Little Red Feather Partnership, Sterling Stable, and Marsha Naify. “I want to see a good performance from him,” D’Amato said. “It’s a good race to propel him into graded stakes again. Hopefully, it can lead us to a bunch of options from Churchill Downs to Santa Anita.” :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more.