Michael McCarthy has been as hot as any trainer in the country in May, rolling to five wins and one big second-place finish in the eight stakes his horses started in California and Kentucky.
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His month may only get better on Memorial Day weekend at Santa Anita.
On Monday, McCarthy will have morning-line favorite Malarchuk in the Grade II Hollywood Gold Cup and likely favorite Formidable Man as well as Genius Jimmy in the Grade I Shoemaker Mile on turf, two of the stakes on a 10-race holiday afternoon card that includes the Grade I Gamely for fillies and mares on grass.
On Saturday, McCarthy has an outside shot with Smoovin Saturday in the Snow Chief Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf, one of five stakes on a 10-race card devoted to California-breds.
The weeks ahead look promising, too.
McCarthy is targeting the weekend of the June 6 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga for a handful of his stars. Journalism, the 2025 Santa Anita Derby and Preakness winner, will seek his first victory of 2026 in the Metropolitan Handicap. Meaning, the Kentucky Oaks runner-up to Always a Runner on May 1, is aiming for the Acorn. Yellow Card, the first head in the photo in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint on May 2, is aiming for the Jaipur. Then Stark Contrast, dominant in the American Turf for 3-year-olds on May 2, could go to the July 4 Belmont Derby or the July 17 Oceanside Stakes, the latter race at Del Mar now to be held under open conditions.
McCarthy knows any good run will end sometime.
But Malarchuk or Formidable Man – or both – can keep him wearing a path to the winner’s circle.
The diminished Hollywood Gold Cup – the one-time $1 million showcase for the sport’s superstars now is a Grade II race for $200,000 – drew a field of five that features Santa Anita Handicap winner British Isles (Joel Rosario riding), long-ago Grade I California Crown winner Subsanador (Mike Smith), likely front-runner Mc Vay (Hector Berrios) and Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained East Coast shipper Forged Steel (Flavien Prat).
Big speed figures for a pair of Saratoga allowance-level performances, and a second-place finish to Vodka Vodka in a stakes at Sunland Park in early April, could be enough to make 5-year-old Malarchuk (Juan Hernandez) the one to beat. Hockey fans may have guessed that Malarchuk is a son of Nyquist.
“I think the mile and a quarter should be well within his (Malarchuk’s) scope,” said McCarthy, who knows British Isles is the only Gold Cup horse proven at the distance. “(He’s shown) stamina late in gallops, strong gallop-outs in his workouts. (In his) second race off a layoff, and some nice spacing, we’re hoping Monday is his day.”
The $300,000 Shoemaker Mile’s nine entrants includes King of Gosford (Kazushi Kimura) and Mi Hermano Ramon (Emisael Jaramillo), who finished 1-2 as Formidable Man rallied too late for fourth as the favorite in this race a year ago. While King of Gosford and Mi Hermano Ramon haven’t hit the board since, Formidable Man went on to win the Eddie Read and Del Mar Mile and finish second at 18-1 to Notable Speech in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.
Flavien Prat rides Formidable Man for the first time Monday as the 5-year-old returns from a post-Breeders’ Cup layoff.
“We’ve had six solid works. He is very good on his day. I’m looking forward to getting everything started, and expecting another solid performance here on Monday,” McCarthy said of Formidable Man, whom he hopes to take back to the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.
McCarthy’s other Shoemaker Mile horse, 6-year-old Genius Jimmy (Hernandez), should be near the front early with El Potente (Hector Berrios) and Call Me Cory (Smith).
“On numbers, he looks like he fits well with these horses,” McCarthy said. “He’ll find himself bouncing out (of the starting gate) and taking them as far as he can.”
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McCarthy’s horse in the $125,000 Snow Chief, Smoovin Saturday, has to improve on recent results and must do it in a less-than-ideal spot, a 1⅛-mile turf race.
“(He) seems to be excelling on the dirt around two turns, but we don’t have any of those races (for Cal-breds),” McCarthy said. “This is the next thing going two turns. My preference would be to run him on the dirt.”
In May 2025, McCarthy was in the national limelight after Journalism gave him a second Preakness triumph. For some trainers, success in the Triple Crown season is a single moment of glory before a return to anonymity. That was never going to happen to the 55-year-old Arcadia High grad, a widely respected trainer who had won big races before and was always going to win more.
“It’s a cyclical game, so when things are going well, you need to try to enjoy it,” McCarthy said this week. “We’re in a purple patch right now, and hopefully it lasts for a little while. Keeping everybody healthy, that’s a tough enough job.”
He could have more to enjoy this weekend.
ON TO THE BELMONT
Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is being pointed for the Belmont Stakes, but Preakness winner Napoleon Solo is expected to wait to make his next start in the July 18 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
As of Thursday, the New York Racing Association listed nine other candidates to compete in the race, which will be run at 1¼ miles at Saratoga while Belmont Park is being renovated: Ocelli, who finished third in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness and would be the only horse to run in all three races; Kentucky Derby starters Renegade (second), Chief Wallabee (fourth), Commandment (seventh), Emerging Market (10th) and Potente (12th); Preakness runner Chip Honcho (third), and Peter Pan Stakes winner Growth Equity and Blue Grass Stakes runner-up Ottinho.
SAFETY WATCH
Minister Shane, an 8-year-old gelding who was euthanized after injuring his right hind leg near the finish of a $25,000 claiming-level sprint on the turf oval Sunday, is the ninth horse to die from musculoskeletal injury and 10th to die overall in racing and training at Santa Anita since Jan. 1. The figure for deaths attributed to musculoskeletal causes is the highest at the Arcadia track for this part of the year since the California Horse Racing Board began posting equine fatality data in 2020.
With deaths from injuries at Los Alamitos the lowest in the seven years of data for the Orange County track, the total of 11 horse deaths from injuries at the Southern California tracks so far in 2026 matches the recent average, while the overall number 15 deaths from all causes is slightly higher than the past five years.
SHORTENING UP
• At Los Alamitos, Cmhowaboutthemcowboy ($23), longest shot among three horses representing trainer Luke Lindsey and owner Randy Dickeron, won with jockey Armando Viramontes in the California Derby for quarter horses Sunday. Cm Jessa Blue Monday, the stable’s 1-5 favorite, broke through the gate, was examined and reloaded, and finished third.
• Churchill Downs announced it has doubled the purse to $2 million for the Stephen Foster Stakes on June 27. The Grade I race at 1⅛ miles is expected to attract Sovereignty, Magnitude, White Abarrio, Baeza and Skippylongstocking, among the leaders of the handicap division.
• Bob Baffert-trained Desert Gate, who dropped off the Kentucky Derby trail after running fourth behind Plutarch in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, is 2-5 on the morning line for Texas Derby at Lone Star Park on Monday. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides.
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Antonio Fresu / 16
Armando Ayuso / 15
Emisael Jaramillo / 14
Juan Hernandez / 13
Kazushi Kimura / 12
Trainers / Wins
Phil D’Amato / 11
Mark Glatt / 8
Jeff Mullins / 7
Richard Baltas / 7
Steve Knapp / 7
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $125,000 Snow Chief Stakes, California-bred 3-year-olds, 1⅛ miles on turf
• $125,000 Melair Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles
• $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs
• $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000 Fran’s Valentine Stakes, Cal-bred fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf
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Monday
• $300,000, Grade I Shoemaker Mile, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
• $300,000, Grade I Gamely Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1⅛ miles on turf
• $200,000, Grade II Hollywood Gold Cup, 3-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles