ARCADIA, Calif. – Reconstruction of California’s turf categories – colts and geldings, fillies and mares – commences this weekend and next in Grade 3 turf miles at Santa Anita.
The American Stakes on Sunday marks the comeback of stakes winners Endlessly and King of Gosford, while the well-regarded European filly The White Lady also returns. She makes her U.S. debut in an entry-level allowance and could emerge as a key player in a female turf division that includes undefeated Raw Ability, who is targeting the Grade 3 Royal Heroine on April 26.
The first turf stakes of the spring meet will be the $100,000 American, race 7 on Sunday. In addition to Endlessly and King of Gosford, the field includes Grade 1-placed Zio Jo and Grade 2 winner Cabo Spirit, along with Il Bellator, St Anthony, and Phosphorescence.
Endlessly and King of Gosford are each four-time stakes winners, and both 4-year-olds will be running long against older horses for the first time Sunday. King of Gosford wired the Grade 2 Mathis Mile for 3-year-olds in December, but Endlessly has not raced since July.
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“He might need one to get the cobwebs out a little bit,” trainer Michael McCarthy said, though he added that Endlessly “seems like he hasn’t really missed a beat since he’s come back.”
Endlessly won five of his first six starts on turf and synthetic before he met his match in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished ninth and established that he is not a dirt horse. He returned to turf for the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in July at Aqueduct, finished last of five, and that was it for him.
“He needed some time, not a huge deal,” McCarthy said.
It’s been nine months since Endlessly raced, and McCarthy said he “has matured, put on weight, grown, filled out. Physically, he’s a very impressive horse to look at on the end of a shank. I’m hoping we get back on track this year. If he comes back to the horse that I think he should have been, or could have been, we’re gonna be in business.”
Endlessly has won five of eight for owner-breeders John and Jerry Amerman. His rider is Umberto Rispoli, who also rides McCarthy-trained Journalism, the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.
The American is a prep for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 26. There, Endlessly will face a deeper field that is likely to include Mi Hermano Ramon, Seal Team, and Goliad. All three were nominated to the American but skipped it for various reasons to wait for the Shoemaker.
King of Gosford should vie for favoritism Sunday based on his runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last fall at Del Mar and gate-to-wire victory in the Grade 2 Mathis Mile on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. Phil D’Amato trains King of Gosford, who is 5 for 9 since arriving from Europe. Based on a shorter layoff than main rival Endlessly and tactical speed, King of Gosford might hold an advantage, but his most recent work was nearly two weeks ago, on April 7.
D’Amato declined to address the colt’s missed final workout, saying, “I’d rather not comment on that whole scenario. He’s fit and ready. He’s going into the race the right way, or I wouldn’t get Flavien Prat to come out here on Easter and ride him.”
King of Gosford figures to receive a pressing trip behind likely pacesetter Cabo Sprit and Zio Jo, third and second, respectively, in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on March 1.
The White Lady makes U.S. debut
D’Amato starts runners in five of Sunday’s 10 races, none more exciting than promising French import The White Lady in race 1.
“She’s a big, good-looking gray – a big, imposing filly,” D’Amato said. “She’s done everything right thus far. She bullet-worked the last couple works like a mile should be no problem.”
The one-mile distance will be the shortest The White Lady has run. She has won two of 10 starts in France at a mile and three-sixteenths or farther. She is eligible for the first allowance condition because she earned only $12,437 winning an allowance in France, well below the $21,000 local threshold.
Purchased privately overseas, D’Amato said The White Lady “has a nice turn of foot and came out of productive races.”
Rispoli rides The White Lady, whose rivals include well-bred and lightly raced Defiance and likely pacesetter Soho.
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