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Shared Belief digs deep to remain unbeaten in Awesome Again
Smith was forced to take his mount five wide on the far turn as Fed Biz regained the lead rounding the bend, and Shared Belief was still lingering his fourth, with work to do approaching the stretch drive. He responded to the urgings of his rider entering the straightaway, accelerating into contention, but Fed Biz proved stubborn all the way to the wire. Shared Belief drew even with about a furlong remaining and gamely dispatched the front-runner in deep stretch, edging his way to the first narrow victory of his racing career. According to Trakus, he traveled 66 feet farther than Fed Biz as a result of the wide trip. "They tried to use some tactics on me which made the win today even sweeter," Smith said. "They just kept taking me wide, taking me wide, and I believe if you want to press the pace or take me out a little bit, OK. But doing it at all costs just to get me beat isn't the way it should be done. "It was to the extreme, I thought it was ridiculous. You just don't do that." Shared Belief completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 2/5 over the fast track. "It's not the worst thing in the world to have a tough race and be double-fit for the Breeders' Cup," Hollendorfer said. "That race will be tougher so we'll need to be tougher, too." Favored at 1-5, Shared Belief returned a paltry win payout of $2.40. He is campaigned by Jungle Racing (Jim and Janet Rome), Hollendorfer, KMN Racing (Kevin and Kim Nish), Jason Litt, George Todaro and Alex Solis II. Fed Biz, the 6-1 second choice in the seven-horse field, wound up 2 1/4 lengths clear of third-placer Footbridge, a 34-1 outsider. Next came Majestic Harbor, Imperative, Mystery Train and Sky Kingdom. Fed Biz and Sky Kingdom are both trained by Bob Baffert and Hollendorfer was asked if he felt "double-teamed" by those horses. "We're all big boys," the Hall of Fame conditioner said. "It's no big deal for me. Mike (Smith) will have to settle up with Victor (Espinoza, on Sky Kingdom, who carried Shared Belief wide on the first turn)." With the $180,000 payday, Shared Belief has now earned $1,552,200 from his perfect mark. His previous shortest margin of victory came in his last start, a convincing 2 3/4-length score in the August 24 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. He captured his first five starts by a combined 30 lengths. His resume includes victories in the Hollywood Prevue, CashCall Futurity and Los Alamitos Derby. The Kentucky-bred gelding made a name for himself in California last year, breaking his maiden by seven lengths for trainer J.B. Josephson before being purchased privately and transferred to Hollendorfer. A month later Shared Belief made his stakes debut in the Hollywood Prevue and once again encountered no threat when pulling away to a 7 3/4-length score. The dark bay closed out his juvenile campaign with a 5 3/4-length win in the CashCall Futurity while stretching out to 1 1/16 miles, and just a month later found himself honored as the champion two-year-old male of 2013 at the Eclipse Award ceremony. The Kentucky-bred was scheduled to return in the Robert B. Lewis in early February at Santa Anita, but foot problems plagued the young champion and he was eventually sidelined. He returned to the worktab in April and came back from a five-month hiatus in late May at Golden Gate Fields, leading wire to wire in a six-furlong allowance. Shared Belief cruised to a 4 1/4-length score while making his dirt debut in July 5 Los Alamitos Derby, stretching out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time in his brief career. He carried that form forward while switching back to a synthetic track in the August 24 Pacific Classic, easily winning at the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Classic distance, and joined a select group of three-year-olds to have won the Pacific Classic. Shared Belief originally raced for his breeders, Pam and Marty Wygod, and is out of the winning Storm Cat mare Common Hope. That mare is also responsible for Grade 3 victress Little Miss Holly and the stakes-placed Double Major, herself the dam of stakes-placed winner Major Hope. Common Hope is a half-sister to Grade 1 queen Key Phrase, who produced stakes-winning sire Yankee Gentleman and is ancestress of Grade 2 scorer Half Ours and Grade 3 heroine Khancord Kid. Also of note in this female line are English champion two-year-old filly *Rich and Rare II and 1999 Canadian champion three-year-old filly Gandria. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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