What a View has Shoemaker Mile or Crystal Water Stakes as possible next start

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 3 American Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday is scheduled as a prep race for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 28. Trainer Kenny Black may take a different route with What a View, who won his fifth stakes with a minor upset in the American.

Black said Sunday the $400,000 Shoemaker is an option, as is the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-breds at a mile on turf on May 20.

“I think I’ll give my boss and partners the info and leave it up to them,” Black said in a text message. “He seems to have come out of it in good order.”

What a View, by Vronsky, races for Finish Line Racing, Taste of Victory Stables, and the family of the late Bud Johnston. Black trains primarily for the Johnstons.

What a View has won 8 of 24 starts and earned $885,361.

The Shoemaker is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. What A View, 7, was last of 14 in the 2016 BC Mile at Santa Anita.

Last May, What a View won the Crystal Water Stakes as the 1-2 favorite and was sixth in the Shoemaker Mile two weeks later. This year, it would be difficult to start in both with an eight-day gap between races.