Kentucky Derby 2023 trail: Sham Stakes odds, free PPs, more
Editor's note: This report was prepared before Speed Boat Beach was scratched from the Sham.
Southern California’s first points-paying Kentucky Derby prep of 2023 features only two runners eligible to collect those points.
National Treasure is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes. Post time from Santa Anita is 6:30 p.m. EST, with FanDuel TV showing the one-mile trip for 3-year-olds.
Bob Baffert trains National Treasure and three other Sham starters: Speed Boat Beach (5-2), Newgate (6-1) and Reincarnate (8-1). All of them are ineligible to pick up Kentucky Derby points because of Baffert’s two-year Churchill Downs suspension.
Spun Intended (5-2) and Packs a Whalop (6-1) are the only two starters eligible for points in the Sham. Those two can pick up either 10, four, three, two or one points with a finish in the top five.
National Treasure has started three times for Baffert and has twice hit the board in Grade 1 races. He was runner-up to stablemate Cave Rock in October’s American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita and then third to Forte and Cave Rock on Nov. 4 at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
SF Racing leads a conglomerate of familiar Baffert owners who campaign National Treasure, a $500,000 auction purchase in 2021 at Saratoga. Jockey John Velazquez will ride the Quality Road colt.
Speed Boat Beach is 3-for-4 for Baffert, with his lone loss coming over the lawn at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. In his last start, he won Del Mar’s Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3) going a turf mile Dec. 4.
Mark Glatt trains Spun Intended, who won on second asking Nov. 26 at Del Mar. His maiden win came by 6 1/4 lengths while going 6 1/2 furlongs.
Packs a Whalop took a pair of Grade 3 races last September and October in Southern California. He switches to dirt and takes on the Kentucky Derby trail for trainer Jeff Mullins after running eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Kentucky Derby victors Authentic (2020) and Giacomo (2005) both raced in the Sham Stakes, with Authentic sweeping both events.
The late Medina Spirit was runner-up in the 2021 Sham, months before crossing the wire first in the Kentucky Derby. His subsequent failed drug test after the Derby led to Baffert’s Churchill suspension, resulting in the trainer’s 2023 Sham runners being ineligible for Derby points.
Here is a look at the field for Sunday’s Sham Stakes (trainers and jockeys in parentheses) with morning-line odds:
1. Newgate (Bob Baffert, Frankie Dettori), 6-1
2. National Treasure (Bob Baffert, John Velazquez), 2-1
3. Speed Boat Beach (Bob Baffert, Flavien Prat), 5-2
4. Reincarnate (Bob Baffert, Juan Hernandez), 8-1
5. Packs a Whalop (Jeff Mullins, Ramon Vazquez), 6-1
6. Spun Intended (Mark Glatt, Mike Smith), 5-2
TimeformUS pace projections show Spun Intended taking a narrow lead under jockey Mike Smith over Newgate, with the front-runners expected to set a fast pace. Favorite National Treasure is expected to run with a pack of three behind the leading group three.
Visit Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page for more information on the Sham Stakes’ six runners.
Kentucky Derby points top 10
1. Forte, 40
2. Curly Jack, 17
3. Blazing Sevens, 16
4. Jace’s Road, 13
5. Instant Coffee, 12
6. Victory Formation, 10
7. Dubyuhnell, 10
8. Practical Move, 10
9. Lugan Knight, 10
10. Arctic Arrogance, 8
Kentucky Derby trail links
Matt Shifman offers Sham Stakes odds and analysis, landing on National Treasure as his top pick.
Reinier Macatangay writes why Speed Boat Beach is his pick of the four Bafferts in Sunday’s Sham Stakes.
Hear more Sham Stakes analysis from Shifman and Brian Zipse on this week’s edition of HorseCenter.
Lugan Knight came out on the winning end of a thrilling stretch duel with Arctic Arrogance in Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes. He earned 10 qualifying points towards the Kentucky Derby.
Kentucky Oaks trail
Here is a look at the other graded stakes on Sunday’s Santa Anita card, a points-paying prep toward the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
5:30 p.m. – $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes (G3), 3-year-old fillies, seven furlongs, FanDuel TV
Ice Dancing (5-2) takes her third shot at graded-stakes flight for trainer Richard Mandella off a maiden win Nov. 25 at Del Mar. Flavien Prat will pilot the Frosted filly in this stakes that pays its top five finishers Oaks points on a 10-4-3-2-1 scale. Bob Baffert trains Parody (5-1), fourth-place finisher Nov. 19 at Del Mar in the Desi Arnaz Stakes. Huntingcoco (6-1), the fifth-place runner in the Desi Arnaz, is, like her Baffert-trained stablemates, ineligible for Oaks points because her trainer’s Churchill Downs suspension.
Related: Justique spikes fever, will be scratched from Santa Ynez
Kentucky Oaks points top 10
1. Wonder Wheel, 40
2. Leave No Trace, 15
3. Pretty Mischevious, 13
4. Raging Sea, 11
5. Hoosier Philly, 10
6. And Tell Me Nolies, 10
7. Chocolate Gelato, 10
8. Fun and Feisty, 10
9. Julia Shining, 10
10. Sabra Tuff, 7