D’Amato’s Balnikhov chases S.F. Mile repeat
“To be able to go to the Kentucky Derby for the first time, it’s a pretty special moment, but you still have to be on top of all your horses.” Phil D’Amato, trainer of Stronghold and Balnikhov
Phil D’Amato will have a horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time when Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold runs for the roses May 4 at Churchill Downs.
D’Amato’s deep stable also includes Balnikhov, who will try to win the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile for the second straight year when he heads a field of 12 on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.
“We’re trying to emulate what we did last year with him,” D’Amato said by phone while driving from Churchill Downs to Keeneland, where he ran three horses Friday in addition to seven at his Santa Anita base.
Such is the life of a trainer who has won 123 graded stakes since 2014, when he took over the stable of his longtime boss Mike Mitchell, who died that year.
“To be able to go to the Kentucky Derby for the first time, it’s a pretty special moment,” D’Amato said. “But you still have to be on top of all your horses.
You’ve got to make sure you keep tabs on them so that they run to the best of their ability.”
Balnikhov did just that in last year’s San Francisco Mile, storming from last place to win by a
nose. Overall, the Irish-bred 5year-old gelding has won six of 24 starts and earned $666,843 with close-up second-place finishes in two Grade 2 events.
Balnikhov was the 7-5 favorite last year, and he is a lukewarm 3-1 choice in the morning line for Saturday’s race as his opponents include fellow Southern California graded-stakes performers Cathkin Peak, Air Force Red, Astronomer, and Sumter. There also are Golden Gate Fields stakes winners Lammas, I’mgonnabesomebody, Freeport Joe, Il Bellator and Clovisconnection.
Grass horses like Balnikhov dominate D’Amato’s operation; 97 of his graded-stakes victories have come on that surface, including the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with Obviously.
“It’s just the economics of the game,” D’Amato said. “Your bankroll needs to be bigger to buy dirt horses. My owners have preferred to go the grass route, and the horses just last longer than dirt horses because they really only run the last quarter of a mile. Dirt races are more demanding. That’s how we’ve become top-heavy with grass horses.”
But on May 4, D’Amato will be trying to win the ultimate dirt race.
“I hold that in the highest esteem,” he said. “To win a Kentucky Derby to me is head and (shoulders) above a Breeders’ Cup race. Anytime you can win a Triple Crown race, that would be a great milestone in my career.”
This San Francisco Mile could be a milestone, too: It’s the final stakes race at Golden Gate Fields, which is scheduled to close at the end of its current season, June 9.