Shoemaker Mile win puts Hunt on path to Breeders' Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile was the first start of the year for Hunt, a 6-year-old gelding who won three Grade 2 races at Del Mar last year. The race was designed to prepare Hunt for Del Mar’s summer season.

Instead, the $401,035 Shoemaker has redefined Hunt’s 2018 season. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Hunt ($21.60) closed from fifth in a field of eight to catch 3-2 favorite Heart to Heart in the final strides for the most prestigious win of his career.

The victory in the Shoemaker gave Hunt an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

“We’ve got a Win and You’re In, and we’ll work back from there,” said winning trainer Phil D’Amato. “The time off did this horse a world of good.”

Hunt won the Shoemaker in his first start since a nose victory in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar last November. In the Shoemaker, Hunt ran a mile on turf in 1:34.07 for his fifth stakes win, all in the United States for owner Michael House.

Heart to Heart, who typically leads, was second for the first six furlongs, chasing the multiple stakes winner Om, who set a moderate pace of 23.22 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.66 for a half-mile. Om led by as many as four lengths.

Heart to Heart caught Om and took the lead in early stretch, but was quickly challenged by Hunt, who went on to win by a neck. Heart to Heart finished a neck in front of Next Shares, who was followed by Om, Bowies Hero, Colonist, Blackjackcat, and Arms Runner.

Prata said he knew Hunt would need a brilliant performance to beat Heart to Heart, the winner of Grade 1 stakes earlier this year at Gulfstream Park and Keeneland.

“I was loaded,” Prat said. “When I hooked up with Heart to Heart, I was worried because of the layoff. We got the trip and it worked out well.”

Trainer Bryan Lynch described Heart to Heart’s runner-up performance as a “gallant effort.”

“I’ve always felt he’s rateable if there is something crazy going on,” Lynch said, adding that Om running off to a clear lead “changed the complexion of the race.”

Next Shares was closing so well that it appeared his momentum would carry him to the front in time.

“We never thought the race would unfold the way it did,” said a frustrated Richard Baltas, who trains Next Shares. “They were walking on the lead. I think our horse was ready.”

Hunt has won 9 of 27 starts and earned $908,764. His five stakes wins have ranged in distances from the Siren Lure Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in June 2016 to the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf last August.

From Prat’s perspective, Hunt is that versatile.

“At Del Mar, he showed he could go a mile and three-eighths,” Prat said. “I think it’s a matter of getting him happy.”