shared belief stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Baffert Considers Next Start For Medina Spirit, Gamine, Classier Work

The rumors on the backstretch were too persistent to ignore. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, they said, was going to run Kentucky Derby winner (pending rulings and litigation) Medina Spirit in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes, a one-mile main track event for 3-year-olds here on August 29.

“There have been rumors about that horse since May 1,” Baffert said with a laugh this morning. “There has been a lot of talk about that horse.

“He's going to breeze this week and I'll know more after that. I go work-by-work with him. I'm looking at the Pennsylvania Derby, maybe as an option. (The question becomes) Do I give him a race here? I'm going to let him tell me, the horse will let me know.”

Medina Spirit was not among the 14 nominated for the Shared Belief by Thursday night's deadline. Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World notably was, and trainer John Sadler said that will be the next assignment for the son of Candy Ride. Supplemental entries, at a cost of $1,000, can be made up to closing time of entries next Friday morning.

The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, a 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds, is set for September 25 at Parx, formerly Philadelphia Park, in Bensalem, Penn.

Classier, another of Baffert's talented 3-year-olds, worked six furlongs in a bullet 1:11.00 this morning and will run here in either the Shared Belief or next Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes, a seven-furlong extended sprint for 3-year-olds and up.

Yet another Baffert standout, Gamine, worked six furlongs in 1:12.00 with an eye toward next week's Ballerina at Saratoga and Baffert's As Time Goes By, a winner of two stakes at the Santa Anita meeting, covered five furlongs in a bullet :58.80.

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Pacific Classic Contenders Put In Final Works

Summer Wind Equine's Magic On Tap worked five furlongs under jockey Abel Cedillo in :59 flat this morning for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in a final prep for the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic which is now one week away. It was one of five works, at Del Mar and Saratoga, by nominees for the signature event of the summer season.

“It went well. We're running in the Pacific Classic,” Baffert said via text of Magic On Tap's exercise.

Working with stablemate Private Mission, who Del Mar clockers also timed in :59 for five furlongs, Magic On Tap completed a series of three workouts since finishing fifth in the $250,000 Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 17.

A stumble at the start severely compromised the 5-year-old son of Tapit's chances in the 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap, the major prep for the 1 ¼-mile TVG Pacific Classic. Magic On Tap had arrived at Del Mar with a record of three victories in six career starts and earnings of $228,800 and was fresh from a win in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., in May.

Later in the morning, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella sent MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Tizamagician out for a five-furlong work in one minute flat with an interim clocking of :36.20 under exercise rider Austin Solis, the son of retired Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis.

“He looked great. Couldn't be better,” Mandella said of the 4-year-old son of Tiznow.

Tizamagician has five wins in 18 career starts and earnings of $427,851. He stamped himself as a TVG Pacific Classic contender by winning the 1 ½-mile Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes on July 18.

Perry and Denise Martin's Mo Mosa, trained by Michael Maker, went five furlongs in 1:00.60 at Del Mar under exercise rider Marcelo Medina in a team work with stablemate Fight On. Track clockers recorded splits of :11.2; :23.0; :35.2, and a final quarter in :25.1.

“It was a great work, we were very pleased with it,” said Nolan Ramsey, in charge of the Del Mar string for Maker. “We need to speak with the owners. The Pat O'Brien is an option, but it (Pacific Classic) is still on the table for discussion.”

Mo Mosa finished fourth — behind TVG Pacific Classic nominees Express Train, Tripoli, and Royal Ship – in the San Diego Handicap shipping in from a stakes victory in May at Lone Star Park in Texas.

Cupid's Claws, owned by Flawless Racing and partners and trained by Craig Dollase, worked five furlongs from the gate at Del Mar in 1:00 under Umberto Rispoli.

“He looked good and he finished up very well,” Dollase said. “It's a go for the Pacific Classic.”

At Saratoga, Todd Pletcher-trained Dr Post worked four furlongs in :49.22, 27th of 80 at the distance. “We're pleased with his workout and he'll go west,” Pletcher said. “He is scheduled to ship on Tuesday.”

TVG Pacific Classic nominee The Great One went six furlongs in 1:13.20, but trainer Doug O'Neill said the 3-year-old is more likely to stay in competition with his age group peers in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes on August 29. Trainer Mike McCarthy said Independence Hall, who worked Friday, still has the Charlestown Classic as the main target.

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‘That Sort Of Swing, The Glide, The Stride’: Shirreffs Says Honor A. P. Should Go The Distance

Honor A. P., the likely second choice for Saturday's rescheduled edition of the Kentucky Derby, has made quite an impression galloping over the Churchill Downs surface in the mornings. The son of Honor Code has the look of his grandsire, A.P. Indy, and should relish the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Run for the Roses, according to trainer John Shirreffs.

“Obviously he's named after his grandsire, so what he really has is a really big stride,” Shirreffs explained. “He has a long underline, and he has a very big stride, and it's an effortless stride. Like, when you watch sprinters run, they kind of run hard, like they're turning the stride over, turning the stride over, turning the stride over. You're not seeing that swing, that little rhythm to their stride, usually.

“With Honor A. P., that's what you see, that sort of swing, the glide, the stride; swing, glide, stride. That shows or indicates that he's not putting a lot of effort into it, so that helps horses go farther.”

Though he was particularly impressive winning the Santa Anita Derby on June 6, racing pundits may be hesitant to back Honor A. P. after his loss last out in the Shared Belief Stakes. Shirreffs explained that he didn't have the colt completely focused on running ahead of that 1 1/16-mile contest at Del Mar.

“Going into the Shared Belief, we were working on other things than cranking him up for the race,” the trainer said. “We were working on his attitude a little bit, trying to get him to behave a little bit better. He was starting to feel really good, and he was starting to be a little difficult to handle. So we wanted to do everything we could to quiet him, calm him down, get him to relax, and not crank him up and get him stressing.

“The only way you can do that with a big strong animal is to quiet them, and the best way to quiet them is to give them lots of exercise. Wet saddle blankets is the best thing for a high-strung horse.”

Honor A. P. has been on his best behavior at Churchill this week, and while Shirreffs believes he's ready for the challenge, the trainer said he'd just as soon have run the Derby in May.

“It would have been nice to run then, because the sequence would have been perfect,” he said. “I don't think the four months have helped him or hurt him, he was pretty precocious early on.”

Shirreffs knows what a Kentucky Derby winner looks like, after all. He saddled Giacomo to an upset victory in 2005, and told reporters he still hasn't watch the replay from that first Saturday in May.

“The feeling I had after the race was so special, I want to keep that feeling,” Shirreffs said. “I don't want to analyze the race, and go, 'oh, look at this and look at that.' I just want to think of the whole thing and the feeling I got from it.”

He'll miss the fans at this year's September Derby, of course, but Shirreffs is hoping for a big effort from Honor A. P. on Saturday.

“(Listening to the fans is) sort of an electric feeling, but winning the Derby is always special,” said Shirreffs. “But Honor A. P. is a completely different horse, and it's his opportunity, so we want to make the best of that.”

Thanks to the National Turfwriters and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB), which has assembled a group of pool reporters providing independent reporting to members unable to be on the Churchill Downs grounds this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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Thousand Words ‘Peaking At The Right Time’ For Kentucky Derby Bid

Albaugh Family Stables' and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words defeated top three Kentucky Derby candidate Honor A. P. in his most recent start, the listed Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, but the 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile will likely have double digit odds on Sept. 5. In an interview with America's Best Racing, the Albaugh's racing manager Jason Loutsch reported that Thousand Words is in great form ahead of the Run for the Roses.

“He came out of the race tremendous,” Loutsch said, referring to the Shared Belief victory. “He is doing really, really good. He is peaking at the right time. We're excited.”

The winner of both the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity last fall and G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes in February, Thousand Words started to go off form in March of this year.

“The horse has a little bit of an attitude,” Loutsch said. “He needed to mature and just wasn't happy. He needed to get healthy and happy and feeling good. He ran a dull race in the San Felipe Stakes (4th) and then we shipped him to Oaklawn Park (for the April 11 Oaklawn Stakes, in which he finished 11th). It was a sloppy track and he broke terrible. We thought if we gave him 30 days off we'd still have time with the Derby delayed this year.

“That's the only real positive for us in the COVID deal. It's been a difficult year for all of us. The only positive is that we gave the horse a little time to mature, he got happy and it allowed us to qualify for the Derby.”

Thousand Words is scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs on Monday, alongside stablemate Authentic.

Out of the talented sprint mare Pomeroys Pistol, Thousand Words was a $1 million yearling at the Keeneland September sale. The colt was bred in Florida by Hardacre Farm, and has a record of four wins and a second from seven starts with earnings of $327,000.