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Beloved Santa Anita Paddock Captain Shear Looking Forward To Celebrating 100th Birthday But Misses The Horses

Although his preferred venue is off the agenda for the time being, Santa Anita's beloved Paddock Captain John Shear will nonetheless celebrate his 100^th birthday with family this Sunday, Jan. 17. Furloughed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Shear, who has been employed by the track since 1961, would dearly love to return to his beloved Santa Anita.

Santa Anita will name a race in honor of Shear's 100^th birthday on Sunday, and although they'll be unable to attend, Shear and his wife Diane and son Michael, will spend his 100^th birthday at John and Diane's Sierra Madre home watching the races and wading through dozens of birthday greetings from jockeys, trainers and track employees via a virtual birthday card presented by Santa Anita.

I enjoy watching on television, but nothing compares to being at Santa Anita,” said Shear. “We just hope this pandemic will end soon and we can get back to normal. My wife and I are trying to stay busy with exercise classes and we spend as much time outdoors as we can. We're being careful, staying out of stores and ordering things to go, but I miss working and being around the horses so much.”

A native of England who was raised from age four to 14 in an orphanage, Shear, at four feet, 11 inches, originally aspired to be a jockey and following World War II, emigrated to Vancouver, B.C. from where he came to Santa Anita as an exercise boy in 1954.

“I was exercising horses for a guy in Vancouver and he asked me if I'd like to go with him to Santa Anita that fall,” said Shear when interviewed a year ago. “I said 'Sure,' and as soon as I stepped off that van in the Stable Area here, I said 'Lord, this is where I want to be.' The place was so incredibly beautiful and I've never gotten tired of it.”

And The Great Race Place will never tire of John Shear, a man who gained national attention nine years ago when at the age of 91, he heroically threw himself between an on-rushing loose horse and a 5-year-old girl who was standing with her father outside of Santa Anita's Seabiscuit Walking Ring.

On the cusp of his 100^th birthday, Shear no doubt speaks for thousands of race goers when he says, “I just hope I can get back to the track soon.”

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Training Horses Is Still A Work Of Art For Sherman

The New Year is here and one of racing's undisputed good guys, Art Sherman, welcomed it in fine fettle as he prepares to turn 84 on Feb. 17.

In 2016, Sherman was named winner of the Big Sport of Turfdom Award, awarded annually by the Turf Publicists of America honoring a “person or group of people who enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists.”

Sherman, who gained fame and fortune most trainers can only dream about when California Chrome burst on the scene in 2013, is content with a more mundane pace these days.

On Sunday, he runs the 4-year-old filly Acting Out in the $75,000 Kalookan Queen Stakes for fillies and mares, four and up, over 6 ½ furlongs at Santa Anita Park.

She also was nominated to Saturday's Grade 2 La Canada Stakes, but with two G1 winners in the field (Fighting Mad and Hard Not to Love), Sherman felt the race came up too tough and opted for a softer spot.

A gray daughter of Blame, who handed the great Zenyatta her lone defeat by a diminishing head in a dramatic edition of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic under the late Garrett Gomez, Acting Out won her last two starts in overnight races by a combined margin of just over 10 lengths, one on turf and the other on dirt.

“She's doing well and been running well on both surfaces,” said Sherman, who owns 50 percent of the filly with his son, Alan. Bobby Harkins and Zvika Akin share the remaining 50 percent.

Born in Brooklyn where he became street smart in his father's Runyonesque barber shop, Sherman later moved to Los Angeles and went to work for Rex Ellsworth, accompanying the great Swaps in May of 1955 to Churchill Downs where he won the Kentucky Derby, and on Aug. 31 to Washington Park in Homewood, Ill., 27 miles south of Chicago, for a historic match race with Nashua before a crowd of 35,262.

Sherman began a career as jockey in 1957, retired in 1978, and took out his trainer's license in 1979. Thirty-four years later along came California Chrome and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sherman is comfortable with a stable of “about 10 horses” at his Los Alamitos headquarters, and has no plans to call it a career.

“If people read that I might retire, nobody will want to give me any horses,” he said.

Winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2014 and a two-time Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016, California Chrome became an international fan favorite and Team Sherman was aboard for the wild ride.

The California-bred son of Lucky Pulpit-Love the Chase retired with a 16-4-1 record from 27 races, earning $14,752,650. Now 10, he stands at stud in Japan for four million yen ($36,500 in Yankee dollars).

“The only time I get to see him is on Facebook,” Sherman said, “but I'd sure like to visit him. I have an open invitation to see him anytime.”

Aside from keeping tabs on California Chrome and winning races, Sherman's foremost priority is his health, which, knock on wood, is good these days. Presently he is cancer-free from a tumor that was discovered on his bladder and surgically removed in March of 2019.

“My last visit four months ago I was free of cancer,” Sherman said, “so I won't have to see the doctor again for a while.”

And that's the best news of this or any year.

The field for the Kalookan Queen, race eight of nine with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Amuse, Drayden Van Dyke; Biddy Duke, Umberto Rispoli; Qahira, Joel Rosario; Acting Out, Abel Cedillo; Dynasty of Her Own, Ricky Gonzalez; and Mo See Cal, Flavien Prat.

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Stronach 5: Three Tracks, Three On The Turf In Friday’s Wager

Friday's Stronach 5 will serve up an intriguing, competitive sequence of races from Laurel Park, Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park with three races on the turf and an industry-low 12-percent takeout.

The action begins at 3:55 ET with Laurel's eighth race and concludes a little more than an hour later with Gulfstream's 10th race, a mile event on the turf for 3-year-old maidens with a $50,000 price.

Laurel's eighth race, a $42,000 optional allowance claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1 /16 miles, has a 5-2 morning-line favorite in Journeytothemoon, a son of Tourist who won first time out for trainer Mike Trombetta at six furlongs Nov. 21 at Laurel. Betcha by Golly comes into the race off a 2 ½ month layoff for trainer Graham Motion after finishing off-the-board in an allowance race at Keeneland. Leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez saddles Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc.'s Tuff But Fair.

After Laurel's ninth race, a claiming event for 4-year-olds and up at seven furlongs, the Stronach 5 heads to California and Santa Anita Park for the third leg of the sequence and Santa's Anita's third race, a maiden special weight event at a mile on the turf for California breds. Reddam Racing LLC's That Corey, a son of Square Eddie, is the 5-2 choice off a second-place finish at five furlongs on the turf at Del Mar. Trainer Doug O'Neill saddles Hail Freedom, a son of Box Score who finished fourth in his debut at Santa Anita Dec. 27 on the main track.

The last two legs of the sequence will be run at Gulfstream over the turf.

Gulfstream's ninth race, the fourth leg of the sequence, has a field of eight 4-year-old and up claimers going five furlongs. Newton Anner Stud Farm's Star Weaver is the 5-2 choice off a second-place finish under the same conditions Dec. 9. Our Destiny makes his first start at Gulfstream after spending last year competing mostly in state-bred races in New York.

The Stronach 5 concludes with Gulfstream's 10th race, a mile event on the turf for $50,000 maiden claimers. The wide-open affair has a tepid 7-2 choice in first-time starter Six Minus from the barn of leading trainer Todd Pletcher. Supplication, a son of Point of Entry, makes his first start on the turf for trainer Mark Casse while trainer Barclay Tagg sends out Tiz Tact Toe, fifth in a maiden special weight race at a mile at Gulfstream Dec. 5.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 8th Race: (8 entries, 1 1/16 mile) 3:55 ET, 12:55 PT

· Leg Two –Laurel Park 9th Race: (10 entries, 7 furlongs) 4:25 ET, 1:25 PT

· Leg Three –Santa Anita 3rd Race: (10 entries, 1 mile turf) 4:32 ET, 1:32 PT

· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: (10 entries, 5 furlongs turf) 4:42 ET, 1:42 PT

· Leg Five –Gulfstream West 10th Race: (12 entries, 1 mile turf) 5:13 ET, 2:15 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Equibase Analysis: Never Be Enough Poised To Upset La Canada

Saturday's running of the Grade 3, $100,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita Park features a field of seven mares, most of which have made their mark in similar stakes recently. Leading the field in terms of career earnings is Hard Not to Love, who won the one-turn Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes 11 months ago and who has three runner-up finishes in graded stakes since, most recently in the G2 Zenyatta Stakes last fall. Fighting Mad is a two-time G1 winner, having captured the Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita last May, as well as the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes last August at Del Mar, both at the distance of the La Canada.

Proud Emma just won the identical G3 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos last month, with Message finishing second and Miss Stormy D fourth. Never Be Enough is the new face in the older female dirt division, running on conventional dirt for the first time after eight races on turf or all-weather following coming to the U.S. from Great Britain. Sanenus rounds out the field and also appears to fit with these off a runner-up effort in the G3 Chilukki Stakes in November.

Although she has never run a race on a conventional dirt surface, I believe Never Be Enough can run well enough to post the upset in this year's La Canada Stakes. This hard knocking mare leads the field by far in races run in her career (29), having won seven and finishing second in five others, including a four for 10 record in 2020. Shipping from trainer Manuel Badilla's Golden Gate Fields base last fall, Never Be Enough (GB) won the Kathryn Crosby Stakes (111 Equibase Speed Figure) on the turf at Del Mar then two races later was closing strongly late and ended up second in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes, ending up beaten just three-quarters of a length at the end by Mucho Unusual (a grade 1 stakes winner). That 111 figure matches up perfectly with the 112 figures Fighting Mad earned winning the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes and with the 112 figure Hard Not to Love earned when second in the Santa Maria Stakes. As such, if Never Be Enough can transfer her form to the main track, she has every right to run well enough to win this race

Fighting Mad hasn't been seen since finishing third as the prohibitive favorite in the Zenyatta Stakes last September, a disappointing effort which led to her skipping the Breeders' Cup Distaff and taking time off to prepare for her five year old campaign. Prior to that, Fighting Mad led from start to finish and dominated against short five and six horse fields in the Santa Maria Stakes (117 figure) and Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (112 figure). In the La Canada, I expect Fighting Mad to secure the lead at the start and try to control the pace to the finish, which is certainly possible. However, horses like Message, Sanenus and Miss Stormy D may also want the lead or to be very close to the front, which may see Fighting Mad run more like she did in the Zenyatta when passed late in the stretch.

Proud Emma just won the identical Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos with a 104 figure and three races before that won the Tranquility Lake Stakes with a 105 figure. In both races, Proud Emma closed from off the pace so in the La Canada she has a chance to save ground from the rail and close into the pacesetter in the stretch although she would need to improve to get to the 112 figure level it appears the winner of this race will need to earn to win.

Hard Not to Love is certainly a contender but I don't think she can win the La Canada. In three of her four races around two turns she managed second place, but all were in short fields of six or less. The best of those earned a 112 figure when second in the Santa Maria. However, Fighting Mad won that race after leading from the start and that's a more likely scenario in my opinion than Hard Not to Love turning the tables on her foe.

The rest of the La Canada Stakes field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Message (105), Miss Stormy D (111) and Sanenus (97).

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Never Be Enough (GB)
Fighting Mad
Proud Emma

La Canada Stakes – Grade 3
Race 8 at Santa Anita
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021 – Post Time 6:30 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Sixteenth
Fillies and Mares, Four Years Old and Upward
Purse: $100,000

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