Calculator Breaks Through in Impressive Fashion
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Photo:
Santa Anita/Benoit Photo
Despite having made two Grade 1 starts as a juvenile in 2014, Richard C. Pell’s Calculator had yet to break his maiden. That is, until Saturday, when the big grey colt found the winner’s circle with ease in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
From the barn of Peter Miller, Calculator was winless in his two maiden attempts at Del Mar last summer before making the leap into stakes company in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3. The In Summation colt finished second, 4 ¾ lengths behind current Eclipse Juvenile finalist American Pharoah. The pair repeated that result in their next meeting, this time with Calculator finishing 3 ¼ lengths behind the winner in the Grade 1 FrontRunner on Sept. 27 at Santa Anita.
After two respectable efforts, it proved to be a patient road back to the starting gate for Calculator, who, like American Pharoah, was forced to miss the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile because of a foot injury and then skipped his originally-scheduled comeback race, the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20 due to illness.
As it turns out, Calculator was worth the wait.
Calculator, who was sent to the gate as the 3-5 favorite despite his maiden status, made easy work of his Sham foes. The Florida-bred colt was hung four wide going into the clubhouse turn, tracking an early pace pressed by St. Joe Bay and Pioneerof the West, who covered the opening quarter-mile in :22.87 and the half in :46.36.
Under Elvis Trujillo, Calculator gained ground on the leaders in the final turn and had no trouble taking control at the quarter pole. The pair swept through six furlongs in 1:10.43 and drew off to a widening 4 1/4-length victory.
The winning time for the two-turn mile was 1:34.88.
"It was a perfect trip," Trujillo said after the race. "I went wide because I’d rather go wide than be in between horses, or caught inside. I wanted a clean trip. He did it very easy today. Stretching out will be no problem for him; he’s very good."
The 21-1 Rock Shandy, the second of three Peter Miller trainees in the race, saved ground early along the rail, changed paths turning for home and followed Calculator’s outside path to get up for second. Pioneerof the West was a half-length back in third, while St. Joe Bay held on to finish fourth.
"I didn’t expect him to be this good," said Peter Miller, who also saddled St. Joe Bay. "I was hoping he was good enough to win at 90 percent (fitness). The water gets deeper from here on out, so we’re going to have to step up our game and move forward off of this one.
"We’ll see how the horse comes out, but I wouldn’t rule out coming back in a month in the [Robert B.] Lewis [on Feb. 7]. The timing of it is good and when my horses are good, I like to run them. He’s good right now so I’m going to run him."
Papacoolpapacool, Hero Ten All, Unblunted and Rockinatten completed the order of finish.
The winner paid $3.20, $2.40 and $2.40 across the board.
As a points-bearing Kentucky Derby prep, Calculator earned 10 points towards a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. Rock Shandy earned four points for his runner-up effort, while third- and fourth-place finishers Pioneerof the West and St. Joe Bay earned two points and one point, respectively.
The winner improves his record to one win, two seconds and a third-place finish from five lifetime starts and $193,500 in earnings.
By Heather Pettinger
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