Shoemaker Mile kicks off mandatory payout pick six

ARCADIA, Calif. – With a tweak here or better luck there, perhaps the favorite for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile would enter on a fancy win streak. Instead, he enters the turf mile Monday at Santa Anita trying to end a long and frustrating string of near-misses.

Over the past year, Smooth Like Strait endured one close-call defeat after another in graded stakes – four seconds and a third by a neck last out. “You’re proud of the horse, he shows up every time,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “But it gets a little frustrating.”

McCarthy hopes a jockey change puts Smooth Like Strait back on top. When the 5-year-old seeks his first victory since the Shoemaker Mile one year ago, Flavien Prat will replace Umberto Rispoli.

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“Sometimes when you’re coming up close and not close enough, you just have to try something new,” McCarthy explained. “And he’s had a couple excuses here and there.”

Smooth Like Strait, a front-runner/presser, faces five others including a main rival with an opposite style. He is Grade 1 winner Count Again, a blast-home closer. Others include Grade 2 winner Masteroffoxhounds, veteran millionaire Restrainedvengence, comeback allowance winner Heywoods Beach, and potential rabbit Dance Some Mo.

While the Shoemaker Mile winner earns an all-fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile in autumn, the race offers immediate significance for bettors. As race 5 it is the first leg in the mandatory-payout 20-cent pick six. The jackpot approached $500,000 after Friday. Barring a single-ticket weekend winner, the gross pool Monday may top $5 million.

The first three legs are similar in that probable favorites, including Smooth Like Strait, will try to end long droughts. In race 6, a Cal-bred maiden-claiming race, Warren’s Queen Bee stretches to 6 1/2 furlongs after a closing second at 5 1/2. All things equal, Warren’s Queen Bee should win. But it’s the 10th start of her career.

Race 7 presents the same career-maiden dilemma. Sunny Morning drops to $100,000 maiden-claiming turf and shortens to one mile, the distance of her best races. But she is a 10-start maiden who repeatedly falls short of expectations. Her rivals include Exit Soul and Roxbury.

Race 8 is a maiden special weight sprint led by last-out runner-up Famous Star and fast-working firster Recall and Reload. Race 9 is an entry-level allowance hillside sprint with Cane Creek Road, Cali Bay, and Mubtadaa. Race 10, the final leg, is the Grade 1 Gamely with Going Global, Going to Vegas, and intriguing Kentucky shipper Ocean Road.

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The $500,000 Shoemaker Mile is the richest race Monday, and despite his recent string of losses, Smooth Like Strait is the class of the field. His 2021 campaign ended with a runner-up finish in the BC Mile at Del Mar, his 2022 campaign began with a neck defeat in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark at Keeneland.

“He’s got one thing people haven’t seen in a while, and that’s a lot of speed,” McCarthy said.

The challenge is the fine line between rationing a horse’s speed, and slowing down so much that it negates his tactical advantage. Smooth Like Strait has won seven races and $1,481,573 from 20 starts for owners Michael and Jennifer Cannon.

Count Again, one of three entrants trained by Phil D’Amato, was ridden by Prat to two wins early this year at Santa Anita, including the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile in March. Last out under Joel Rosario in the Maker’s Mark, Count Again dropped too far off the pace, and rallied from last to finish sixth by less than two lengths. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides on Monday.

“All he needs is a clean trip the final quarter and he’s going to come running late,” D’Amato said.

Count Again, a 7-year-old with six wins and $769,915 from 16 starts, has breezed super since returning to California. He could get pace to run at.

Agave Racing and Sam-Son Farm own Count Again and an apparently overmatched Shoemaker longshot whose presence is curious. Dance Some Mo’s lone victory was a maiden win. Last time out, he finished fifth in an entry-level allowance. Or maybe Dance Some Mo is entered in order to flatter the rally of stablemate Count Again.

D’Amato said Dance Some Mo worked super since he last raced. “We’re just going to turn him loose and see what happens. It’s a small field. We’ll keep them honest.”

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Masteroffoxhounds, previously trained by Richard Baltas and making his first start for D’Amato, shortens from a runner-up finish in a 1 1/4-mile Grade 2. Although he prefers a distance longer than a mile, he enters in top form. Five of the last six Shoemaker Mile winners, including one returning from a layoff, were turning back in distance.

Restrainedvengence, third last year in the Shoemaker Mile, adds blinkers following a compromising trip when eighth in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate.

“He left himself so much to do,” owner-trainer Val Brinkerhoff said. “I’m putting blinkers on to see if we can’t get a better position.”