ARCADIA, Calif. - When Ever a Friend was taken out of training with an ankle injury in the summer of 2008, trainer Mike Mitchell insisted the gelding would get ample time to recover.

Even Mitchell did not expect the layoff to last until November 2009. Thursday at Santa Anita, Ever a Friend, the winner of the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in March 2008, finally returns to racing in an optional claimer over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

"He's a lovely horse, and we've given him a lot of time," Mitchell said. "I really wanted him for the Breeders' Cup, but we ran out of time."