Thought Process leads 4 for D’Amato at Santa Anita

Phil D’Amato has been Santa Anita’s leading trainer every spring since the track parsed nine weeks from the rest of its calendar in 2022-23.

Holding the lead again, D’Amato has a chance to add two Grade 1 turf wins to his total Monday when he sends Thought Process and three more older entrants to the gate for the $300,000 Gamely and $300,000 Shoemaker Mile.

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“All along we’re trying to make her a Grade 1 winner,” D’Amato said Saturday about Thought Process. “There’s not that many of them, especially on the West Coast. All systems are go here on Monday.”

D’Amato all along has targeted the 1 1/8-mile Gamely for Thought Process, who is the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the field of eight fillies and mares, 3 and up. A 4-year-old Collected filly, she was bred and is owned by Brereton Jones estate and co-owned by Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stables. Her 3-for-3 record at Santa Anita includes her most recent start nearly three months ago, a win as the 6-5 favorite in the one-mile Buena Vista (G2).

“We were trying to figure out if we wanted to squeeze one more of the preps in before this one or just kind of run her in the Gamely fresh,” D’Amato told Horse Racing Nation from Santa Anita. “We just decided to do the latter, she trained exceptionally well, and hopefully she’s ready for her top performance.”

A three-time graded-stakes winner, Thought Process will carry her regular jockey Héctor Berrios from post 5. In a race that will not be lacking for late turns of foot, she figures to be forward early.

“I think she’s very tactical,” D’Amato said. “I think she can set one, two, three. Héctor knows her very well, so I’m just going to kind of leave it in his hands.”

The first two times she came back from a break, Thought Process won handily, including last out in the Buena Vista and in an allowance race 11 months ago. In her five-furlong workouts this month, she was clocked progressively at 1:02.6, 1:00.4 and 58.8 seconds.

“She runs very well fresh, so that was a big deciding factor in waiting for this race,” D’Amato said. “She’s undefeated here at Santa Anita. That doesn’t hurt. I think she’s coming into this race the right way. Her last two breezes have been exceptional.”

Public Assembly (10-1), a 5-year-old More Than Ready mare owned by Abbondanza Racing, McNulty Thoroughbreds and Medallion Racing, is D’Amato’s other Gamely starter. The winner of the Royal Heroine (G3) last spring, she went winless in her last eight starts, including a fifth in the 2025 Gamely. Two months ago she finished a close fourth in the 1 1/4-mile Santa Ana (G3).

“This distance is exactly what she wants,” D’Amato said. “Maybe a mile-and-a-quarter is just a smidge too far, and a mile’s a little too sharp. Same thing with her. After that last race we just decided to sit and wait on her and run her here.”

More likely to close from mid-pack, Public Assembly has not lost by more than 1 1/2 lengths in her last four races.

“Part of it was just trying to figure her out, and distance-wise I was really high on her last year,” D’Amato said. “She won a graded stakes for me, but I think we’re just trying to find what she’s best at. I think a mile-and-an-eighth is just right in her wheelhouse.”

Hall of Fame jockey Joel Rosario, who moved his tack back to California this month, rides Public Assembly from the rail post Monday.

Deep-closing 6-year-old gelding Almendares (5-1) and mid-pack 5-year-old entire King of Gosford (10-1) are entered for D’Amato in the Shoemaker Mile for 3-year-olds and up. The program may show Almendares as the more likely contender, but D’Amato said it would not be wise to discount King of Gosford, who won this race at 4-1 odds last year.

“The morning line might see him as a long shot, but I don’t at all,” he said. “In my eyes he’s got just as good a chance as any.”

Owned by the Benowitz family trust, CYBT, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig and Jeremy Peskoff, the son of Zoustar has raced only twice since last year’s victory. Most recently King of Gosford finished fourth last month, losing by 1 3/4 lengths in the American (G3) over the same course and distance as the Shoemaker Mile. It was his last-place result last summer in the Del Mar Mile (G2) that proved pivotal.

“That John Sadler horse (Suchet) ridden by Paco López came over and just did a number on him,” D’Amato said. “He cut him all up behind really bad. It was one of those things where the only way that those cuts were going to heal properly was just inactivity. We gave him plenty of time. They all healed up nicely.”

A pair of five-furlong drills the last two weeks were clocked at 1:00.8 and then 59.4 seconds. They told D’Amato that King of Gosford is ready to defend his 2025 triumph.

“We got the rust off,” D’Amato said. “He’s trained very well, and second off the bench, to me, I think he’s going to be a very dangerous horse.”

Kazushi Kimura rides King of Gosford from post 2 in the field that was reduced to eight horses after original rail starter El Potente was reported Friday to have spiked a fever.

Almendares, who will break with Antonio Fresu from post 4, won the American by a neck over Genius Jimmy and 1 1/4 lengths over Seal Team. Those rivals will be back Monday, but they pale by comparison to the competition that Almendares faced Jan. 24. That was he finished a close third to Test Score as a 37-1 long shot in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

“That was the first time (Tyler) Gaffalione had ridden him, and he had to push the button a little too soon,” D’Amato said. “It was one of those things that if he didn’t, he’d have gotten a bad spot. He made a big, wide move and still ran tremendous. I think that kind of springboarded him to a bunch of really good performances this year.”

Owned by CYBT, McLean Racing Stables, Gevertz, Nentwig and Ray Pagano, the England-bred Havana Grey gelding finished third March 7 in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G2) six weeks before his victory in the American.

“He’s run against a few of the best horses in the country and showed he can compete and beat them when he did it in the Pegasus Turf,” D’Amato said about Almendares. “I think a race like this, with his style, it’s very winnable.”

Eight of the nine Shoemaker Mile horses have faced at least one another before. That means that bettors really can go to school on the past performances. What about trainers?

“I think it’s just one of those things,” D’Amato said. “You know your horse’s style, what he can and cannot do, and hopefully the jockey does. May the best horse win. We can get them ready to a point, tell the jockeys only what we can tell them and what we know about the horse and how the race shape might set up. But at the end of the day, when the gates open, it’s left to them. To me I see that they’re all pretty similar horses.”

With one exception. D’Amato singled out Formidable Man, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, as a deserving 7-5 favorite on the Shoemaker Mile morning line.

“Definitely, he merits respect and is the horse to beat,” he said. “The only thing is he’s coming off of a layoff. I’m hoping he’s a little rusty. But I know my horses are primed and ready to go, and they’re going to do the best they can do.”