Sham Stakes 2021 guide: Odds, picks and analysis
Just how good is Life is Good? Racing fans will get another chance Saturday to find out.
The Into Mischief colt Life is Good is the 2-5 morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes. Five 3-year-olds will go one mile over Santa Anita’s dirt in the Sham, scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. EST post time.
Life is Good became the latest buzz horse for trainer Bob Baffert when he blitzed maiden special weight foes in November at Del Mar. Jockey Mike Smith, who booted the colt home to a 9½-length debut win, stays aboard for the Sham.
Saturday’s race kicks off what futures bettors think could be a memorable season for Life is Good. He is Circa Sports’ 9-1 favorite for the 2021 Kentucky Derby and, at 5-1, was the shortest price among individual betting interests in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
The Sham is the West Coast’s first official Kentucky Derby prep of 2021, paying Derby points on a 10-4-2-1 basis.
Here is a look at the 2020 Sham Stakes field (trainer and jockey in parentheses) with morning-line odds:
1. Medina Spirit (Bob Baffert, Abel Cedillo), 6-1
2. Waspirant (John Shirreffs, Umberto Rispoli), 15-1
3. Parnelli (John Shirreffs, Drayden Van Dyke), 5-2
4. Uncle Boogie (Andrew Lerner, Flavien Prat), 12-1
5. Life is Good (Bob Baffert, Mike Smith), 2-5
TimeformUS’ pace projections show Life is Good going out to a lead under Smith, with stablemate Medina Spirit and John Shirreffs trainee Parnelli leading the pursuit.
For more information on the Sham Stakes’ quintet of runners, visit HRN’s free past performances page.
Sham on TV
TVG’s Christina Blacker, Britney Eurton and Todd Schrupp will all be on-site at Santa Anita, providing live coverage of the Sham and other races on the card. The network’s coverage Saturday will also include stakes action from Aqueduct and Gulfstream Park.
TVG on Saturday will also air a 2020 retrospective focusing on COVID’s impact on racing and the industry’s response to the pandemic.
Sham links
Bob Baffert appeared this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod from Vegas Stats & Information Network. See what Baffert said about Life is Good making his two-turn debut and meet his talented, unraced 3-year-olds nearing their racing debuts.
Life is Good earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in November for his dominant debut victory. Find out where that number ranks among the fastest 2-year-old performances of 2020.
Reinier Macatangay notes that Parnelli owns successful route experience, while Life is Good will go two turns for the first time. Parnelli also earned a high TimeformUS Speed Figure of 111 at a mile that is only two ticks off Life is Good’s 113 at 6½ furlongs.
Laurie Ross and Ashley Tamulonis go head-to-head in analyzing each of the Sham Stakes’ five runners. Both land on Life is Good as the class of the field.
Life is Good and Parnelli can both be found on Keeler Johnson’s handicapping watch list. Johnson also highlights other upcoming entries, including San Gabriel Stakes (G2) contender Anothertwistafate.
While some of the West Coast’s 2021 Kentucky Derby hopefuls compete Saturday in the Sham, Gulfstream Park hosts the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes for East Coast 3-year-olds. Matt Shifman and Brian Zipse analyze all the Derby trail action this week on HorseCenter.
Saturday’s Sham victor will accumulate 10 points toward the 2021 Kentucky Derby starting gates. On Friday afternoon, it was Capo Kane who picked up 10 points by winning the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.
Sham card
First post is 3:30 p.m. EST, with full Santa Anita entries available via HRN. The Sham is the eighth of nine races carded Saturday at the Arcadia, Calif., oval.
Here is a look at some of the other action taking place Saturday at Santa Anita.
4:34 p.m. EST and 5:35 p.m. EST – Races 3 and 5, maiden special weight, 3-year-old fillies, 6 furlongs, turf
Twenty sophomore fillies, divided into two groups of 10, will sprint over the lawn Saturday afternoon in search of their first career victories. The 5-2 favorite in Race 3 is Constitution filly Freedom Fighter, who is 0-for-4 but has finished in the money in each of her last three starts. Jockey Ricardo Gonzalez, who on Dec. 26 collected his first career Grade 1 win, rides for trainer Simon Callaghan. The 3-1 favorite in the second of these maiden events is Mark Glatt trainee Katerini. Jockey Tyler Baze will pilot the Broken Vow filly, who was fourth in October at Santa Anita in her only previous start.
6:05 p.m. EST – Race 6, allowance optional claiming, 4-and-up, 1 1/16 miles, dirt
Street Cry gelding Paladar is the 3-1 morning-line favorite for trainer Richard Baltas. Jockey Joel Rosario gets the call on the 6-year-old, who won a starter allowance in November at Del Mar off a layoff of more than 14 months. The 7-2 co-second choices are allowance winner Tizamagician for trainer Richard Mandella and Kershaw, who makes his first start for Victor Garcia’s barn.
6:35 p.m. EST – Race 7, $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes (G2), 4-and-up, 1 1/8 miles, turf
Awesome Again gelding Count Again looks to make it back-to-back Grade 2 triumphs after taking Del Mar’s Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles in November. Jockey Juan Hernandez will pilot the 2-1 morning-line favorite in his first start as a 6-year-old for trainer Philip D’Amato. Peter Miller trainee Anothertwistafate, a Grade 3 winner, ran fourth in the Seabiscuit and is 5-2 for the San Gabriel. Baltas has a pair of 4-1 shots in Grade 1 hero Next Shares and Santa Anita stakes winner Bob and Jackie.
7:35 p.m. EST – Race 9, allowance optional claiming, 4-and-up, 6 furlongs, turf
Mesut, an allowance winner for trainer Carla Gaines, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite. Jockey Umberto Rispoli gets the call on the 7-year-old Gio Ponti gelding, who was scratched out of a start in Friday’s Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2) won by Hembree. 4-1 second choice Sparky Ville, a Grade 2 winner, and 5-1 third choice Ultimate Bango are both in for $62,500 claiming tags.
Sham preview
From Santa Anita communications:
A dazzling 9½-length maiden winner in his first start, Bob Baffert’s Life Is Good will no doubt be a short-priced favorite as he stretches out to a flat mile and heads a field of five sophomores in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita.
Named in honor of the winner of the 1973 Santa Anita Derby, the Sham winner will receive 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, with four to second, two to third and one Derby qualifying point to the fourth-place finisher.
Off at 1-5 with Mike Smith up in a field of five going 6½ furlongs Nov. 22 at Del Mar, Life Is Good earned a lofty 91 Beyer Speed Figure in his maiden win, easily best of those competing in the Sham. Purchased as a Keeneland September Yearling for $525,000, he made the lead easily through splits of 21.80, 44.80 and 1:09 flat en route to a smashing 9½-length score while getting the distance in 1:15.40.
Bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West, Life Is Good is by top stallion Into Mischief and is out of the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk, who was winless in five starts. Owned by China Horse Club, Inc., and WinStar Farm, Life Is Good will be making his second start as he tries to provide Baffert, who won the 2020 Sham with eventual Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, with his record seventh Sham Stakes winner.
Baffert will also be represented by first-out maiden winner Medina Spirit, who sped to a three length score going 5½ furlongs at Los Alamitos on Dec. 11 while earning a 76 Beyer.
The John Shirreffs-conditioned Parnelli, a $500,000 Keeneland September Yearling, was attentive to the early pace en route to a huge 5¾-length maiden win as the 1-5 favorite going a flat mile at Del Mar on Nov. 28. Owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s C R K Stable, Parnelli, who is by Quality Road, out of the unraced Bernardini mare Sip Sip, will likely sit a close second to Life Is Good in what will be his fifth start. Second in his first three assignments, the last two at one mile, Parnelli earned a 79 Beyer in breaking his maiden and will be ridden back by Drayden Van Dyke.
Shirreffs will also saddle Waspirant, who also broke his maiden at one mile, winning by three quarters of a lengths after stalking the pace Aug. 29 at Del Mar with regular rider Umberto Rispoli. Subsequently a well-beaten fourth in the American Pharoah (G1) going a mile and one sixteenth here Sept. 26, he’ll be making his fourth start and third consecutive try at two turns in the Sham.
Owned and bred by Pam and Martin Wygod, Waspirant is by Union Rags out of the Storm Cat mare Life is Sweet, who was a multiple Grade 1 stakes-winning earner of more than $1.8 million.
A first-out maiden $32,000 claiming winner going 5½ furlongs here Oct. 12, trainer Andrew Lerner’s Uncle Boogie came back to be a solid second in a first condition allowance going 5½ furlongs as the even money favorite at Del Mar on Oct. 31. Most recently second to runaway winner Red Flag in the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at seven furlongs Nov. 15, Uncle Boogie, a Florida-bred colt by Ride On Curlin who was purchased for $38,000 at an Ocala Sales 2-year-old in training sale in July, retains the services of Flavien Prat and will likely seek a stalking trip in his first try around two turns. Owned by Eric Homme, he’ll be making his fourth overall start.