Long known for his skill in training turf horses, Phil D’Amato is making the most of an opportunity with the 3-year-old dirt horse Stronghold, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and pointed to the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve at Churchill Downs.

Since beginning training full time in 2014, 93 of D’Amato’s 123 graded stakes wins (79%) have come with horses competing on grass, many of them European transplants raced in Southern California, led by 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Obviously. When D’Amato has captured a top-level dirt race, it has typically come with an older runner, perhaps transferred to him mid-career, with horses such as 2018 Santa Margarita Stakes winner Fault and 2018 Bing Crosby Stakes winner Ransom the Moon being examples.

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Stronghold is a break from that mold. A colt by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms stallion Ghostzapper owned by Sharon and Eric “Rick” Waller, he has been developed by D’Amato through every step of his six-race career, resulting in three wins and as many second-place finishes. He has earnings of $827,200.

“Myself, I started dabbling in training more turf horses than dirt horses just by the pocketbook. It’s a lot easier on the pocketbook to buy Europeans or grass horses,” said the 48-year-old D’Amato, a multiple title-winning trainer in Southern California. “The demand for quality, well-bred dirt horses – it’s just a lot more money.

So, thankfully, in the last couple of years, we’ve been able to buy some more dirt horses, some more yearling prospects that will hopefully develop into some nice dirt prospects as well.”

Even Stronghold differs from those recent acquisitions as he’s a homebred for the Waller’s small breeding operation.

“I trained Stronghold’s mom, Spectator, and she was a very nice dirt horse,” D’Amato said of the graded stakes winner. “They were fortunate to breed her to a very nice stallion in Ghostzapper, which gave us Stronghold here.”

Unfortunately, Spectator died giving birth to Stronghold, her first foal.

“Needless to say, we have experienced a lot of adversity and obstacles in getting to have Stronghold,” Rick Waller previously told BloodHorse. “As small breeders, we can only dream about getting a nice horse.”

Stronghold is among the most well-traveled horses in the Derby lineup, having initially raced at Ellis Park and Churchill Downs in Kentucky. Remarkably, his maiden win at Churchill Downs on Oct. 1 proved a key race for the Kentucky Derby. Besides Stronghold, the 2-3 finishers from the race – Resilience and Track Phantom – are Derby prep winners and in the Kentucky Derby lineup.

Rick Waller, Antonio Fresu, and Stronghold. (BENOIT photo)

Sent west after his maiden win to join D’Amato’s primary string of horses in California, Stronghold was second a couple of times in graded stakes late in his 2-year-old season before going 2-for-2 this year at 3. He beat an ordinary field in the Feb. 18 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico before returning to California and capturing the April 6 Santa Anita Derby in a stretch battle over the Bob Baffert-trained Imagination.

Owing to Churchill Downs banning Baffert from competition its tracks, Imagination did not qualify for the Derby with his runner-up finish, leaving Stronghold as the lone Santa Anita Derby representative in this year’s race. The Santa Anita Derby, which has produced 19 Kentucky Derby winners, did not draw as much depth and quality as usual this year, part of that due to Baffert’s top runners – Muth, Nysos, and Maymun – not competing for various reasons.

D’Amato, however, still believes his Santa Anita Derby winner is a contender.

“His numbers might be a little light, Beyer-wise,” he said, referring to the popular Beyer Speed Figures published in Daily Racing Form. “But to me, you put him in the race with these horses, I think he stacks up very well and right with them.”

D’Amato said Stronghold, who arrived in Kentucky earlier this week, is scheduled to breeze on April 28. Joe Talamo, who rode the colt to his maiden win last fall, will be aboard for the breeze, substituting for jockey Antonio Fresu. Fresu has riding obligations this weekend in California, some of them for D’Amato.

Fresu, like D’Amato, will soon have his first Kentucky Derby experience. However, D’Amato is familiar with the scene and the 150,000-strong crowd that will be at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, having run horses in undercard races on Derby Day. Two years ago, D’Amato trainee Desert Dawn notably ran third in the Longines Kentucky Oaks, held the day before the Derby before nearly as packed a house.

Participating on such a grand stage is the payoff for most anyone involved in the sport, and certainly so for D’Amato, who, as a kid growing up in Southern California, would go to now-shuttered Hollywood Park with his parents, who owned horses. As a young man, D’Amato earned a degree in political science from the University of Southern California before earning a second degree in animal sciences at the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program.

He thereafter worked for numerous trainers across the country before moving back to California and spending 10 years working for Mike Mitchell before taking over that stable when Mitchell retired in 2014, a year before his death from cancer. D’Amato’s Breeders’ Cup winner Obviously was formerly overseen by Mitchell.

“This is pretty much what I’ve worked my whole career – to get to this point,” D’Amato said of the Derby. “It’s been my dream to have a horse in the Kentucky Derby and to finally achieve that ... to be able to share that with friends, family and owners, it’s just a good feeling.”