Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Johannes to begin 4-year-old season in American Stakes
ARCADIA, Calif. – Johannes, a two-time stakes winner in 2023, will start in Sunday’s Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita as a prep for major goals later this spring.
Johannes won his first three starts on turf in late 2022 and early 2023 before finishing fifth by two lengths in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs last May, his most recent start.
Turned out for the remainder of 2023, Johannes resumed workouts for trainer Tim Yakteen in late January and has had a consistent pattern of works in recent months, including six furlongs in 1:12.20 on March 17 and five furlongs in 1:01 last Saturday.
With a successful start in the $100,000 American Stakes, Johannes could start in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf May 27 at Santa Anita.
“He’s coming back healthy,” Yakteen said. “We’re looking forward to his campaign. I hope this will set him up for the Shoemaker. Ultimately, that’s on our schedule.”
Johannes has yet to win a graded stakes. He won the Baffle Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in March 2023 and the Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf a month later in consecutive starts.
In the American Turf Stakes, Johannes closed from 12th of 13 to be nearest the front at the finish.
Sunday’s American Stakes drew 16 nominations, including Du Jour, Easter, and Ah Jeez, the first three finishers of the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf March 3. While trainer Bob Baffert said in a text message Sunday that plans for Du Jour are “undecided,” trainers Phil D’Amato and Doug O’Neill said Easter and Ah Jeez will not start in the American.
D’Amato does have two formidable candidates in Gold Phoenix and Prince Abama.
Gold Phoenix, a four-time stakes winner, has not raced since he finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles last November. Prince Abama was seventh of eight in the Kilroe Mile in his first start since a win in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes in February 2023.
The American Stakes will arrive too soon on the 2024 calendar for Astronomer, a stakes-placed turf miler last year.
Unraced since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap on Nov. 25 at Del Mar, Astronomer will be pointed to the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf April 27 at Golden Gate Fields.
“I don’t think he’ll be quite ready,” trainer Simon Callaghan of the American Stakes.
Owned by Michael Tabor and Alice Bamford, Astronomer was second by a neck in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita last September and later 12th of 13 at 53-1 in the BC Mile.
Prat gearing up for Keeneland
Jockey Flavien Prat has one more day of mounts at Santa Anita before making his annual springtime move to Kentucky.
Prat is booked to ride Thursday through Saturday at Oaklawn Park, including Timberlake in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, and will ride at Santa Anita next Sunday, according to his agent Brad Pegram.
Prat will be based at Keeneland when that track begins its spring meeting on April 5.
Through last Sunday, Prat ranked second in the standings at Santa Anita with 42 wins, eight behind leader Juan Hernandez.
Last April, Prat finished fifth in the standings at Keeneland with nine wins, well behind leader Tyler Gaffalione with 21. Prat won three stakes during that season, including the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile with Chez Pierre.
Prat, 31, was the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for five consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 20202021, and was the leading rider at the Del Mar summer meeting five times from 2016 to 2021.
Prat altered his annual schedule in the spring of 2022 to focus on riding in Kentucky and New York from early spring until the Breeders’ Cup, in an effort to gain greater recognition for a potential Eclipse Award.
Prat was nominated for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider in recent years, but has not won the award.
Prat last won a riding title in Southern California at the 2022 Del Mar autumn meeting.
At Keeneland, Prat will be joined by Frankie Dettori and Joel Rosario as other riders based in California this year who will ride at that prestigious meeting. Dettori, who is riding in Dubai on Saturday, is expected to return to Santa Anita frequently through the spring.