Formidable Man © Benoit Photo
It will be a high-stakes showdown between two of the top grass horses on the grounds Sunday in the G2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar. Formidable Man will put his stellar Del Mar record on the line against Gold Phoenix, winner of the G2 Del Mar Handicap an unprecedented four times.
Formidable Man has run seven times at Del Mar and he’s won six of those races. He finished second in the other one which just so happened to be a Breeders’ Cup race. Five of his victories have been graded stakes including last year’s Eddie Read.
In his last race, his 2026 / 5-year-old debut, he won the G1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on Memorial Day.
“The horse had a nice break,” trainer Michael McCarthy points out. “A nice freshening after the Breeders’ Cup. Did not miss a day. Did not miss a beat once he came back into training. He had a tight schedule, made six works. So to show up and run like he did off the bench to win a grade one, I thought it was exceptional.”
McCarthy has always liked what he’s seen of the son of City of Light.
“I thought he had a right to be a very nice horse,” McCarthy says. “He did everything right as a young horse. It just took him a little while to put some things together. I’m not going to say I was surprised the day he broke his maiden but I ran another horse that day who had trained well and he beat him on the wire. That kind of told me he was as good as I thought he could be.”
Some have suggested if you look up “horse for the course” in the dictionary you’ll see a picture of Formidable Man.
“I think ‘horse for the course’ is certainly part of it with him,” McCarthy notes. “But I don’t think he needs to take his course with him. He does fine at Santa Anita and we were second in the American Turf at Churchill.”
Which brings us to Gold Phoenix, an 8-year-old gelding who has won half of his 10 races at Del Mar over the years. Four of those came in the Del Mar Handicap dating back to 2022. He’s won the race every year since.
“He’s just a solid veteran,” trainer Philip D’Amato contends. “He knows what he’s doing. Sometimes the races are going to set up for him, sometimes they’re not. But he’s always going to try.”
D’Amato had waited until last week to decide whether or not to run Gold Phoenix in the Eddie Read, letting his workout on Sunday be the determining factor.
“He’s doing well and I think the Eddie Read is a good prep for the Del Mar Handicap,” D’Amato says. “After this race I can just take my time with him. I don’t have to train him so hard and have him ready to go for the handicap.”
There are a couple of other horses in the mile and an eighth Eddie Read that could make it more than a two-horse race. One is Gold Phoenix’ stablemate, Almendares, who finished second to Formidable Man in the Shoemaker Mile.
“He’s a versatile horse between a mile and a mile and an eighth,” D’Amato notes. “He can knock around with the best of them and he seems to always be there. He likes Del Mar. He won the Wickerr here last year. One day is going to be his day.”
Mondego is another one who could pull off an upset of the Eddie Read. He won the G2 Charles Whittingham at Santa Anita last out in May.
The 53rd running of the G2 Eddie Read is Race 9 on Sunday’s 11-race program. Probable post is 6 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Astronomer (Julien Leparoux, 20-1); Mondego (Esimael Jaramillo, 8-1); Cabo Spirit (Mike Smith, 12-1); Almendares (Antonio Fresu, 8-1); Gold Phoenix (Hector I. Berrios, 3-1); Stay Hot (Armando Ayuso, 10-1); Seal Team (Joel Rosario, 8-1); Formidable Man (John Velazquez, 7/5), and Mi Hermano Ramon (Juan Hernandez, 20-1).