Forestry’s multiple Grade 1 winner Shackleford is the 2-1 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Saturday at Santa Anita, looking to improve on his second-place finish in the race last year.

Winner of last year’s Preakness (G1) and this year’s Metropolitan H. (G1), Shackleford prepped for the Breeders’ Cup in the one-mile Kelso H. (G2) at Belmont Park on Sept. 29, where he finished second in a race that trainer Dale Romans said was the ideal set-up for Santa Anita.

‘‘I think the Kelso showed him coming back to himself,’’ Romans said. ‘‘He ran on a sloppy track that day. It was more wet than people thought it was. He came back coated in mud. He showed himself, he showed his fight to hang on for second. It makes me think he’s back to his best.”

Shackleford has amassed $2,824,047 in earnings in 18 starts. The 4-year-old is owned by his breeders Mike Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge. The chestnut colt has drawn post 4 in the field of nine and will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez, who rode for the first time in the Kelso.

Shackleford is Forestry’s leading lifetime earner and one of three millionaires by the 16-year-old stallion. Forestry is the sire of three multiple stakes winners in 2012 in addition to Shackleford: Doe, Claresmiezie, and Maple Forest.