Shades of Victory will try to defy the odds a second time in the E.B. Johnston

CYPRESS, Calif. – At 80-1, Shades of Victory was the shocking winner of the E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos last September.

A year later, it looks like a fluke. The race remains the 5-year-old’s only stakes win in 25 starts. Since then, Shades of Victory is winless in seven starts. He was gelded in March and went five months between starts.

Owned and trained by Reed Saldana, Shades of Victory will start in the $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-bred milers on Saturday. He will be a longshot again, but not quite the lofty price of last year.

“This has been the plan for the last few months,” Saldana said.

Shades of Victory is part of a competitive field of eight that includes the mare Queen Bee to You, who won the Bertrando Stakes against males here in June; Oliver, an improving 3-year-old trained by Doug O’Neill; and Cruel Intention, who was beaten as a strong favorite in two races at the Del Mar summer meeting.

Shades of Victory was sixth in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 17 in his first start since being gelded. The turf sprint was designed to have Shades of Victory prepared for the Johnston Stakes.

“He wasn’t really ready for that,” Saldana said. “I knew we needed a race for him.”

Shades of Victory led throughout the 2018 Johnston, but may have trouble doing that on Saturday. Cruel Intention is likely to show speed from the inside post, while Queen Bee to You tends to run near the front.

“I think there is speed to the inside of us,” Saldana said. “My horse can rate if he needs to.”

Cruel Intention was third as the 7-10 favorite in the Real Good Deal Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-old statebreds on July 27 and third in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option against open company at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 24. In the latter race, Cruel Intention led by two lengths with a furlong remaining before finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind Fashionably Fast.

Oliver was second in the Real Good Deal Stakes and won an allowance race with a $20,000 claiming option for statebreds at 6 1/2 furlongs by five lengths on Aug. 17. The Johnston Stakes will be Oliver’s first start at a mile on dirt.

Queen Bee to You was last of six in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 28, dueling for the early lead before fading through the stretch.

“I think we put her in over her head that day,” trainer Andrew Lerner said. “She wasn’t competitive. We had this spot planned for a little bit after that race.

“This is a deeper field than the Bertrando she ran in. We’re hoping for a good race. I think Cruel Intention and Oliver look tough.”

Lerner said Queen Bee to You is likely to be near the front under jockey Ruben Fuentes.

“I’ve been trying to get her to rate a little bit in the morning for a situation like this,” he said. “I think we’ll play the break. She can lay off them a little bit.”