Gary Barber’s War of Will, a winner of last year’s Grade I Preakness Stakes and idle since well beaten in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic, squares off with sharp veteran turf miler River Boyne, top French-bred miler Raging Bull and others, as they head an outstanding field of 11 three-year-olds and up in Monday’s Grade I, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile (turf) at Santa Anita.
The Shoe Mile is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, which enables the winner to receive an automatic berth and fees paid into the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile Nov. 7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, KY. Named for the legendary Hall of Fame jockey, Bill Shoemaker was Santa Anita’s leading rider for an unprecedented 17 consecutive Winter/Spring Meetings, from 1950-51 through 1966-67.
Headquartered with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Mark Casse at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida, War of Will ships west and will be trying turf for the first time since late in his 2-year-old campaign, while Red Baron’s Barn, LLC and Rancho Temescal’s Irish-bred River Boyne, a recent winner of Santa Anita’s Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile, seeks his third consecutive win over the course for trainer Jeff Mullins.