Almendares rallied from last to first to earn his first graded stakes win in the $101,000 American Stakes (G3T) April 18 at Santa Anita Park.
The 6-year-old gelded son of Havana Grey trailed the field through the opening stages under jockey Antonio Fresu, well off the pacesetter Captain Choochies, who posted fractions of :23.30, :47.48, and 1:10.84. Almendares traveled comfortably down the backstretch and, on the far turn, he moved closer to the leaders. As the field entered the stretch, he was less than 2 lengths off the front in fifth. He came under a heavy drive to run them all down, outkicking Genius Jimmy on the rail to defeat him by a neck. Seal Team was in the early stretch battle but settled for third.
The Phil D'Amato trainee finished the 1-mile turf race in a final time of 1:34.14. As the post-time favorite, he paid $5.40 for the win.
"He's just like a fine wine, this horse," D'Amato said. "His works this year have really been spectacular. The work leading up to this race was one of the best he's ever given me. It's taken us a while to figure out what his style is, but we finally have, and everything worked out well today."
Owned by CYBT, McLean Racing Stables, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig, and Ray Pagano, Almendares began his career in Ireland before being moved to D'Amato's barn. He holds a 6-5-6 record from 23 starts, with earnings of $643,695.
