Raging Bull charges home in Shoemaker Mile

Trainer Chad Brown had been sitting on Raging Bull for more than a month, his intended comeback in the Maker’s 46 Mile having been scrapped when Keeneland had to cancel its spring meeting. But Raging Bull retained his sharpness in his training in the weeks since at Palm Meadows, and when he was finally unveiled in his 2020 debut Monday at Santa Anita, the results were impressive.

Raging Bull rallied strongly on the far turn and continued his run through the lane to score a 2 1/4-length victory under Joel Rosario in the Grade 1, $302,500 Shoemaker Mile. Next Shares, last in the 10-horse field early, finished well to be second, a half-length in front of Brown’s other entrant, 2-1 favorite Without Parole, who had traffic trouble through the lane and probably deserved a better fate. River Boyne was fourth.

War of Will, last year’s Preakness winner, finished fifth, but was disqualified and moved back to sixth, behind True Valour, after veering in at the start and being ruled by the stewards to have caused interference. Neptune’s Storm, Blitzkreig, Voodoo Song, and March to the Arch completed the finish, in that order. Majestic Eagle was scratched earlier in the day.

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Raging Bull ($7.80), the second choice, covered one mile on firm ground in 1:32.73. A hot pace of 22.16 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.75 seconds for the half-mile, set by Neptune’s Storm and then Voodoo Song, helped the horses who were eighth and last midway through the race finish one-two.

“He likes firm turf and he likes pace in front of him,” Brown said in a telephone interview after the race.

“He came back super. Peter Brant,” Brown said, referring to Raging Bull’s owner, “has been very patient, but now things are starting to pay off.

“Dunbar Road,” Brown said, referring to the filly who last year won the Alabama and Mother Goose, “came back and won this weekend in Kentucky. It shows the commitment of our owners and staff. We had to wait longer to get started – we were in the same boat as everyone else with what’s going on – but hopefully we can run in and win more meaningful races the rest of the year.”

The Shoemaker Mile is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, and Brown said mile grass races will be the focus of Raging Bull’s campaign this year.

“We tried longer races last year, like the Manhattan, but he wasn’t quite up to it,” Brown said.

Now age 5, Raging Bull won the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby going 1 1/8 miles on turf in December 2018 in his only previous trip west. He was winless in five starts last year, but was unlucky in his last two races of his campaign, both at a mile. He was second in the Fourstardave to Got Stormy, and was placed third in the Woodbine Mile via disqualification after crossing the wire fourth.

Raging Bull was intended for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last fall, “but he had a minor setback, just needed a little time,” Brown said.

Brown said Brant wanted to keep Raging Bull in training this year to try and win another Grade 1 race, this time against older runners. That box has been checked already, but the potential for more Grade 1 wins, and a bid for a divisional championship, await.

Raging Bull, by Dark Angel out of a Mr. Greeley mare, was bred in France but has raced exclusively in the United States.

“Peter believes he could be a top stallion prospect,” Brown said. “He’s probably the best-looking horse I’ve ever seen. It was important to win a Grade 1 against older, even though he had already won the Grade 1 as a 3-year-old.”

The win was the sixth in 13 starts for Raging Bull, whose other stakes wins came in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame and Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga in the summer of 2018.