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Medina Spirit, Rock Your World Both Under Consideration For Awesome Again, Pennsylvania Derby

Following Sunday's battle in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, first and second-place finishers Medina Spirit and Rock Your World could be pointing to the same next race, according to the Daily Racing Form.

The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 25 at Parx is one option both camps are considering, while the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 2 is the other. The Pennsylvania Derby is restricted to 3-year-olds but requires a cross-country ship; the Awesome Again would pit the sophomores against older horses, but doesn't require a major ship and also offers an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Trainer John Sadler was pleased with Rock Your World's effort in the Shared Belief, and is in no hurry to decide the Santa Anita Derby winner's next start.

“I thought he ran well,” Sadler told DRF. “I liked the fact that he kept digging all the way to the wire. It wasn't like he got beat and backed up. It was a good, strong race.”

Meanwhile, Bob Baffert is looking forward to the future with Medina Spirit.

“A mile and a quarter, a mile and a half, I think he could handle anything, that horse,” Baffert told DRF. “He came back great. It was an exciting race. The fans were into it. That was nice to see. It was good racing.”

Medina Spirit Makes Successful Return In Shared Belief At Del Mar

With his title as 2021 Kentucky Derby winner still in legal limbo, Medina Spirit made his first start since finishing third in the Preakness Stakes, winning the Shared Belief Stakes on Sunday at Del Mar.

The son of Protonico went off as the race's favorite, broke fast, and led at every call to win the one-mile stakes under jockey John Velazquez.

The field of six broke cleanly from the gate, with Velazquez hustling Medina Spirit to the lead, followed by Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World on his outside and Reddam Racing's Team Merchants third. Through a first quarter in :22.52 and a half-mile in :46.92, Medina Spirit maintained his front-runner status, with Umberto Rispoli and Rock Your World close, never allowing the Bob Baffert trainee to be more than a three-quarters of a length ahead. They stayed 1-2 into the far turn, as both Rock Your World and Team Merchants loomed to Medina Spirit's outside entering the stretch.

Coming out of the turn, Rock Your World drifted out slightly, causing Team Merchants to veer into Stilleto Boy and forcing the latter to steady before running on down the center of the track. Rock Your World could not gain on Medina Spirit, who tenaciously hung on to his lead throughout the stretch run, flashing under the wire in front. Rock Your World was second, with Stilleto Boy third and The Great One fourth.

The final time for the one-mile Shared Belief Stakes was 1:37.29. Find this race's chart here.

The inquiry sign went up not long after the finish as the Del Mar stewards examined the action coming out of the far turn into the stretch when Team Merchants veered into Stilleto Boy. Because Team Merchants finished behind Stilleto Boy, the stewards decided not to make any changes to the order of finish. Medina Spirit was not affected by the inquiry.

Medina Spirit paid $3.80, $2.40, and $2.10. Rock Your World paid $2.80 and $2.20. Stilleto Boy paid $3.80 to show.

“It went the way we wanted it. Once I made the lead into the first turn, I felt better. He was moving well. When he got on the backside, his ears went up and he was really cruising. When a horse would come to him, he'd pick it up on his own. When we got to the quarter pole, I said 'Let's go; time to pick it up.' And he was right into it. He finished strong and the gallop out was strong, too. He can build off this race,” Velazquez said after the Shared Belief.

“It's a relief. A Shared Belief relief,” Baffert told the Del Mar media office after the race. “It's good that the fans were here for the showdown. I did not have any intention of running him in this race until a couple weeks ago. I started thinking about it, figuring it couldn't come up that tough. Then (son) Bode said, 'You know Rock Your World's running there?' For what this horse has gone through he's such a game horse and I wanted to run him here and see if he likes Del Mar. I've never had a Derby winner come back and win here so that's a first. He looks good and John (Velazquez) said he feels better than ever. There's still some good racing for him out there. We're waiting for the process to happen.”

Bred in Florida by Gail Rice, Medina Spirit is out of the Brilliant Speed mare Mongolian Changa. He is owned by Zedan Racing Stables, who purchased the 3-year-old colt from Whitman Sales for $35,000 at the 2020 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company July Two-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. With this win in the Shared Belief, Medina Spirit has three wins in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 8-4-3-1.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles can be found here.

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Medina Spirit Returns a Winner in Shared Belief

Zedan Racing Stable's Medina Spirit (Protonico), whose GI Kentucky Derby title still remains in limbo due to a betamethasone positive, returned to the winner's circle with a wire-to-wire victory in the Shared Belief S. at Del Mar Sunday. The dark bay colt, sent off the 4-5 favorite, went quickly to the lead and was tracked by second choice Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) through a quarter in :22.52 and a half in :46.92. The two favorites were swarmed by longshots nearing the stretch as GI Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World drifted out slightly in upper stretch and Team Merchants (Nyquist) and Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) exchanged bumps, but Medina Spirit ran straight and true and powered home a one-length winner over the resurgent Rock Your World. Following an inquiry into the infractions in upper stretch, the stewards determined Team Merchants, who finished fourth, was responsible for the interference with third-place finisher Stilleto Boy and allowed the order of finish to stand.

“It's a relief. A Shared Belief relief,” winning trainer Bob Baffert admitted.

Winning rider John Velazquez said, “It went the way we wanted it. Once I made the lead into the first turn, I felt better. He was moving well. When he got on the backside, his ears went up and he was really cruising. When a horse would come to him, he'd pick it up on his own. When we got to the quarter pole, I said, 'Let's go; time to pick it up.' And he was right into it. He finished strong and the gallop-out was strong, too. He can build off this race.”

Medina Spirit, who was supplemented to the Shared Belief last week, was making his first start since finishing third in the May 15 GI Preakness S. Just a week after he upset the May 1 Kentucky Derby with a wire-to-wire victory at 12-1, trainer Bob Baffert announced the colt had tested positive for the regulated anti-inflammatory betamethasone. His victory remains a question mark as connections argue the positive was the result of a skin ointment.

“I did not have any intention of running him in this race until a couple weeks ago,” Baffert said. “I started thinking about it, figuring it couldn't come up that tough. Then [son] Bode said, 'You know Rock Your World's running there?' For what this horse has gone through, he's such a game horse and I wanted to run him here and see if he likes Del Mar. I've never had a Derby winner come back and win here so that's a first. He looks good and John said he feels better than ever. There's still some good racing for him out there. We're waiting for the process to happen.”

Prior to his Derby, Medina Spirit was second behind Life is Good (Into Mischief) in the Jan. 2 GIII Sham S. and won the Jan. 30 GIII Robert B. Lewis S. He was second again to then-stablemate Life Is Good in the Mar. 6 GII San Felipe S. and entered the Derby off a runner-up effort behind Rock Your World in the Apr. 3 GI Santa Anita Derby.

Sunday, Del Mar

SHARED BELIEF S., $100,500, Del Mar, 8-29, 3yo, 1m, 1:37.29, ft.
1–MEDINA SPIRIT, 124, c, 3, by Protonico
                1st Dam: Mongolian Changa, by Brilliant Speed
                2nd Dam: Bridled, by Unbridled
                3rd Dam: Holy Niner, by Holy Bull
($1,000 Ylg '19 OBSWIN; $35,000 2yo '20 OBSOPN). O-Zedan
Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Gail Rice (FL); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 8-4-3-1, $2,345,200.
2–Rock Your World, 124, c, 3, Candy Ride (Arg)–Charm the
Maker, by Empire Maker. ($650,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Hronis
Racing LLC & Talla Racing LLC; B-Ron & Deborah McAnally (KY);
T-John W. Sadler. $20,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 124, g, 3, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by
Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger;
B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $12,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 2 1/4, 1. Odds: 0.90, 1.60, 22.50.
Also Ran: The Great One, Team Merchants, Willy the Cobbler.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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O’Neill Starters To Face Off With Medina Spirit, Rock Your World In Shared Belief

Who knew that Bob Baffert was going to supplement disputed Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit to run in Sunday's $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.?

“I knew it weeks ago,” said John Sadler, who switched targets with Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World from the Del Mar Derby to the Shared Belief and beat Baffert to the announcement by a few days. “It was the worst kept secret in the stable area.”

Without the benefit of the grapevine, trainer Doug O'Neill figured out the Medina Spirit entry a couple of weeks ago. It was the Rock Your World commitment that came as something of a surprise to O'Neill.

“When Medina Spirit worked 1:11 and change (6f, 1:11.80 on August 12), I assumed that's where he was headed,” O'Neill said Friday morning. “I didn't know about Rock Your World.”

The developments were of great interest, of course, since O'Neill had two of his own charges set for the one-mile main track test for 3-year-olds.

“What a tough spot with the Kentucky Derby winner and the Santa Anita Derby winner,” O'Neill conceded.

O'Neill's entrants are Team Merchants, J. Paul Reddam homebred son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and The Great One, another son of Nyquist owned by Erik Johnson, a defenseman with National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, and partners.

Team Merchants posted a half-length victory at 6 ½ furlongs on the opening day of the meeting, July 16, that was his second win in four career starts. The Great One opened his 3-year-old campaign with a 14-length maiden-race victory at Santa Anita in January, but was overmatched and overwhelmed in both the Grade 2 San Felipe and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

“Team Merchants we're looking to stretch his ability out to two turns – win, lose or draw,” O'Neill said. “The Great One just needs a place to run. He's ready to get back to the races and we've been targeting this one for awhile. It's a good place to start for steps down the road.”

The Great One was beaten 16 ¾ lengths by Life Is Good and eight by Medina Spirit in the San Felipe. The margins were 20 ½ behind Rock Your World and 15 ¾ by Medina Spirit in the Santa Anita Derby.

“It was all mental, physically he was OK,” O'Neill said. “One of the owners has a beautiful place in Ocala, FL, so we sent him down there for about six weeks to freshen him up. He's been back and is training good and looking good. Whether he's good enough to beat these guys is a real question, but we're excited to have him back at the races.”

The field for the Shared Belief Stakes from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Willy The Cobbler (Victor Espinoza, 20-1); Medina Spirit (John Velazquez, 7/5); Rock Your World (Umberto Rispoli, 8/5); Team Merchants (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); The Great One (Flavien Prat, 6-1), and Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1).

While post position isn't likely to prove crucial, Rock Your World's trainer John Sadler said he was glad to be outside Medina Spirit as the marquee runners drew side-by-side posts.

“It will give us options,” Sadler said.

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