Remembering … Shared Belief
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}} {{hour12}}:{{minuteTwoDigit}}{{dayPeriod}}
Sometimes the good ones come from places you would not expect. So it was for Shared Belief. The brilliant Champion Two-year-old Male of 2013, began his career in Northern California. The Golden Gate Fields maiden race, run at 6 furlongs on October 19, was won in a fitting manner for a soon to be superstar. The dark bay gelding won off by seven lengths, and in fast time.
Sometimes the good ones are lost far too soon. Sadly, this was also true for Shared Belief. On December 3, barely two years after his quick rise to prominence, the racy son of Candy Ride was lost suddenly after a colic episode which began in his barn back at Golden Gate Fields.
While a field of seven are set to take to the track for the Shared Belief Stakes Saturday at Del Mar, now would be an ideal time to look back at the wonderful career of the race's namesake.
His time in relative obscurity up in the Bay Area would not last long. Thanks to the work of Alex Solis II, he was privately purchased from his breeders, Pam and Marty Wygod, following the debut win. He soon became the biggest story coming out of the closing days at Hollywood Park.
Now owned by a team led by sports personality, Jim Rome, Shared Belief had is coming out party in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes. The highly regarded Kobe's Back was made the favorite over the San Franciso shipper, but come race time, he was no match for the Jerry Hollendorfer trained, Shared Belief. The 7 3/4-length victory pointed him out as a rising star.
Next would come the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity five weeks later. The test of two-turns, and a large field, once again offered no real concerns for the talented gelding. From promising, to an undefeated champion in the time it took him to sprint down the stretch, Shared Belief became the talk of the Kentucky Derby winter books.
Alas, the Kentucky Derby, or any part of the Triple Crown, for that matter, was taken off the table for Shared Belief. A nagging hoof issue put an end to any Derby dreams. His trainer kept things close to the vest, and the Champion Juvenile finally returned to the races for his fourth career start in another unlikely spot.
Golden Gate Fields once again hosted Team Shared Belief, this time in a 6 furlong allowance. Paying off the patience of Hollendorfer, his star came back with his running shoes on. His return to the races was a success, and off that single allowance sprint, he would quickly go on to bigger and better things.
He followed that up with a facile score in the Los Alamitos Derby at 9 furlongs. Shared Belief looked like the sensational two-year-old we had seen late in the previous year, but could these two preps really be enough to have him ready for a Grade 1 against older horses, going 10 furlongs?
His blitz of the Pacific Classic, while undefeated and lightly raced, was reminiscent of his brilliant sire, also an undefeated winner of Del Mar's signature race.
Now a true superstar, Shared Belief would have only one more race before the Breeders' Cup Classic. It proved his toughest test to date, but the Mike Smith ridden favorite demonstrated his determination, and ability to overcome a little race riding, with a victory in the Grade 1 Awesome Again.
A rivalry that should have been, with California Chrome, took a long time to materialize. While the other top three-year-old male of 2014 was making a run at the Triple Crown, the connections of Shared Belief were forced to wonder what might have been during the spring of his sophomore season. The two finally got to meet on the racetrack in the fall, when the racing world descended upon Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup.
While California Chrome ran a very good race to be a close and rallying third behind the controversial winner, Bayern, Shared Belief simply did not get a fair shot. His fourth-place finish, and first career loss, was marred by serious trouble. That would not be the last time the two champions would meet on the track, though.
In February, just a few months after the Classic, Shared Belief and California Chrome would meet in a fair race. The San Antonio at Santa Anita was the stage, and the dark bay gelding was more than up to the challenge.
He only raced twice more after that decisive victory over California Chrome. First came the Big Cap. The crown jewel of early season racing in Southern California, the Santa Anita Handicap is not supposed to be a walk in the park, but that's exactly what the exceptional Shared Belief made of this test.
As wonderful as Shared Belief ran on this afternoon at Santa Anita Park, it's all that more hard to believe that it would be his final career victory. The fantastic four-year-old probably had not even reached his peak yet, but there was little doubt that he was the best horse in America, if not the world.
In his next start, Shared Belief suffered a non-displaced fracture to his right hip while racing in April's Charles Town Classic. It was a shocking and disturbing site to see the excellent runner pulled up in such a manner. Of course, his performance in his previous race, the Santa Anita Handicap, is how I will always think about him on the racetrack.
A return to the races was looking good for the champion, until tragedy struck. After training early on the morning of December 3, Shared Belief soon was in distress in his barn. His team acted quickly and got him to the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. A rupture, from the colic, was diagnosed. Surgery was attempted, but doctors could not save him.
Before his untimely passing, Shared Belief accounted for six grade 1 wins. He was a champion who won big races on both dirt and synthetic, and while both sprinting, and running long. In his career, he failed to make it to the winner's circle but two times. In one, he was battered around on multiple occasions, and ran huge to be fourth. In the other, he was injured.
The life and death of Shared Belief is a reminder of how brilliant a thoroughbred racehorse can be, but also of the fragility that is part of these majestic animals at birth. Far too short was his time on this Earth. I remember you, Shared Belief.
Read More
On this Saturday before Christmas, two Kentucky Derby preps are on the list - the Gun Runner at...
Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Mr. A. P. will miss the Kentucky Derby trail after a setback. Trainer Vladimir...
Trainer H. Ray Ashford Jr.’s 988th career winner made quite the impression. Favored D’code rocketed to a front-running...
Dreaminblue posted Friday's highest Horse Racing Nation speed figure, earning a 139 while winning the six-furlong Silks Overnight...
Santa Anita's draw for opening day next Friday will be held Sunday, a two-day delay. In a notice...