D'Amato Duo to Meet Du Jour in Kilroe Mile

Easter  and Prince Abama  may have met each other in Phil D'Amato's shed row, but the two 6-year-olds have never faced each other in a race because their racing schedules haven't meshed. That could change in the March 3 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.

Of the two, Easter has the more recent form, riding a three-race winning streak, while Prince Abama hasn't run in more than a year.

Easter, who will have the services of Antonio Fresu from post 2, began his turf stakes triple in the one-mile Lure Stakes Oct. 28 at Santa Anita while still trained by Graham Motion. Moved to D'Amato and kept in California, Easter followed that with the 1 1/16-mile Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T) Nov. 25 at Del Mar and 1 1/8-mile San Gabriel Stakes (G2T) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

Prince Abama, on the other hand, last saw competition when he captured the San Marcos Stakes (G3T) at 1 1/4 miles on turf Feb. 5, 2023. Away from the work tab from March until early November, Prince Abama has been working steadily since then. D'Amato entered him in the Feb. 3 Thunder Road Stakes (G3T) at a mile on the turf, but scratched him. The trainer has named Frankie Dettori to ride from the rail.

Du Jour , second by a neck in last year's Kilroe Mile to D'Amato-trained Gold Phoenix , returns for a second try. Bob Baffert trains the 6-year-old gelding, who won the Wickerr Stakes and Del Mar Mile Stakes (G2T) back-to-back last summer at Del Mar. Flavien Prat will be in the irons from post 6. Du Jour most recently finished 10th in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), though he was beaten just 3 1/2 lengths.

Goliad  won the Thunder Road by three lengths after leading throughout, at one point by as many as 12 lengths. It was the 7-year-old War Front   gelding's first stakes victory, though he finished second in the 2019 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) as a 2-year-old. Kazushi Kimura rode Goliad in the Thunder Road, and trainer Richard Mandella has named him again, with Goliad drawing post 8.

"I haven't studied the race, and I'll leave it up to Kimura, but I doubt he'll take him way back. For one, the horse is just too strong," Mandella said Feb. 29. 

Dandy Man Shines  and Ah Jeez , second and third in the Thunder Road, return for the Kilroe. Umberto Rispoli rides Dandy Man Shines from post 3 for trainer Jeff Mullins, while Hector Berrios will be up on Ah Jeez from post 5 for trainer Doug O'Neill. Dandy Man Shines won the 2023 Let It Ride Stakes over Ah Jeez, who won the a local stakes in Dubai and has placed in three other black-type stakes.

O'Neill also trains Mackinnon , naming Juan Hernandez from post 7. Mackinnon hasn't run since finishing last in the July 30 Eddie Read Stakes (G2T). The 5-year-old by American Pharoah   won two stakes as a 2-year-old, finished third in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), and has placed in two other stakes. Mackinnon is listed as a first-time gelding for the Kilroe.

Completing the field are Irideo  (Jeremy Laprida, post 4) and First Peace  (Mike Smith, post 9). Irideo is coming off a victory in the Jan. 28 Clocker's Corner Stakes down Santa Anita's hillside turf course. First Peace, winner of the 2023 John Shear Stakes, most recently captured an allowance optional claiming race down the hill Feb. 15. That was his first race since last May when second in the Desert Code Stakes.