Shared Belief Tries to Be ‘Awesome Again’

While the 3-year-olds figure to have their say in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Saturday afternoon, one of their peers, champion Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}) will be a heavy favorite against seven more-experienced rivals in the GI Awesome Again S., the final California prep for the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. 

Anything close to the 115 Beyer Speed Figure the gelding earned for his defeat of the Classic-bound Toast of New York (Thewayyouare) in the GI Pacific Classic will in all likelihood be good enough to win this, but there remains the nagging question of how and if the Jerry Hollendorfer pupil will handle Saturday’s mile-and-a-quarter distance over a conventional dirt surface. If he should stub his toe, Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor) has a race in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita over the summer that would get the job done here. He was beaten 9 1/2 lengths in the Pacific Classic, but trainer Sean McCarthy thinks the 6-year-old will improve with a return to the dirt. 

In Saturday’s other four other Breeders’ Cup prep events, Beholder (Henny Hughes) will try to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing fourth as the favorite in the GI Ogden Phipps S. June 7 when she goes in search of a second consecutive victory in the GI Zenyatta S., but will have a race-fit rival to deal with in the form of Iotapa (Afleet Alex). 

The GI Rodeo Drive S. has attracted a pair of shippers from the East Coast who may have a slight class edge on an evenly matched group of locals. Emollient (Empire Maker) makes her fourth trip to California and is looking for her first win since annexing last year’s GI Spinster S. at Keeneland, but with that race back on dirt this year, ends up making the cross-country trip. Irish Mission (Giant’s Causeway) snapped a seven-race skid of her own when annexing the GIII Glens Falls S. going 11 furlongs over the Saratoga turf Aug. 31. Moulin de Mougin (Curlin), winner of the GII John C. Mabee S. last time, looks as good as any of the locally based chances. 

A field of 10 juvenile males will prep for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in the GI FrontRunner S., headed by the impressive GI Del Mar Futurity hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and TDN Rising Star Conquest Panthera(Kitten’s Joy). 

A dozen 2-year-old fillies try the GI Chandelier S. in the day’s most wide-open event. Conquest Eclipse (Malibu Moon) can improve off her third in the GI Del Mar Debutante, while East Coast raiders Angela Renee (Bernardini) and Sunday Sonnet (Any Given Saturday) also merit plenty of respect.