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Honor A.P. Faces Off With Baffert Duo in Shared Belief

Honor A.P. (Honor Code) looks to add more GI Kentucky Derby points to his collection in Saturday’s Shared Belief S. at Del Mar. An impressive second-out graduate when extending from six panels to a mile at Santa Anita in October, the $850,000 FTSAUG buy was runner-up to recent GI Haskell Invitational S. victor Authentic (Into Mischief) in the GII San Felipe S. Mar. 7. The dark bay turned the tables on that rival last time with a decisive score in the GI Santa Anita Derby June 6.

Bob Baffert had three set for this test, but undefeated ‘TDN Rising Star’ and GIII Los Alamitos Derby winner Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo) has been re-routed to the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 8 instead. That leaves Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) and Cezanne (Curlin) to represent the Hall of Famer. Opening his account with a trio of wins, including the GII Los Alamitos Futurity and GIII Robert B. Lewis S., Thousand Words was fourth in the San Felipe and faded to 11th in the Oaklawn S. Apr. 11. Given a brief freshening, the $1-million KEESEP buy ran second to his stablemate in the Los Al Derby last time.

Cezanne puts his undefeated record on the line here. A debut winner sprinting in Arcadia June 6, the $3.65-million FTFMAR topper captured a one-mile event at Los Alamitos last time July 2.

Also a defecting from the field is Santa Anita Derby fourth-place finisher Anneau d’Or (Medaglia d’Oro), who will instead contest the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby. Kiss Today Goodbye (Cairo Prince) rounds out the now four-horse field. Breaking his maiden at fifth asking at Santa Anita Feb. 22, he was 10th last time in an optional claimer there May 17.

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Honor A. P. Tops Six Seeking Derby Points In Shared Belief Stakes

In a season of unusual happenings, Saturday's Shared Belief Stakes fits right in. The 3-year-old feature – which has drawn six very interesting runners — breaks new ground in that it is the first time a Kentucky Derby prep race has been conducted at the seaside oval in its 81-year history.

Of course, this is Kentucky Derby 146 upcoming and it's the first time it has been conducted on the first Saturday of September. That, too, fits right in.

Del Mar's $100,000 “Derby Prep” is normally a mile race at the end of August. But in anticipation of its new role, it was shifted to the beginning of August and lengthened to a mile and one sixteenth. It will carry Derby “points” of 50-20-10-5 for its first four finishers.

Heading the lineup are a pair of colts with short, but sparkling, resumes in C R K Stable's Honor A. P. and Pegram, Watson and Weitman's Uncle Chuck. The former has been hung the 8-5 morning line favorite, while the latter is right behind him at 9-5.

Honor A.P., a ridgling by Honor Code and a grandson of champion and prolific sire A.P. Indy, comes into the race off a tally in the Santa Anita Derby on June 6. He was second in the San Felipe at Santa Anita in his race prior to that and has been training forwardly at Del Mar for his “prep.” Mike Smith, who has handled Honor A.P. in all four of his starts so far, once again has the call Saturday.

Uncle Chuck, a colt by Uncle Mo, has only raced twice, but both times he was especially impressive. He scored by seven lengths in a Maiden Special Weight race at Santa Anita in June in his debut, then came right back on July 4 to handily capture the Los Alamitos Derby at the Orange County track. He, too, has looked good in the mornings in his Del Mar works and gets the saddle services of Drayden Van Dyke for the Shared Belief.

However, trainer Bob Baffert is expected to scratch Uncle Chuck from the Shared Belief in favor of the Travers at Saratoga.

The remainder of the lineup consists of Albaught Family stables or Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words (Abel Cedillo the rider); Peter Redekop's Anneau d'Or (Victor Espinoza); John Sondereker's Kiss Today Goodbye (Umberto Rispoli), and Mangier, Tabor or Smith, et al's Cezanne (Flavien Prat).

The Shared Belief will be the second of 11 races on the Saturday card, which also features the Grade I, $250 Bing Crosby Stakes and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes.

First post on all programs at Del Mar this summer is 2 p.m.

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‘Give It A Try’: Anyportinastorm Gets His Grade 1 Shot In Bing Crosby

In keeping with the tradition of the racing family into which he was born, Blaine Wright has been a successful trainer for more than 20 years based in Northern California and Washington state.

Wright, who celebrated his 46th birthday on Saturday, is among a group of Northern California conditioners who've sent strings south to Del Mar in recent years, boosting the horse population and adding another factor for handicappers to ponder in races at every level.

Next Saturday, Wright has representatives entered in two of the three stakes on the card: Anyportinastorm in the Grade I, 6-furlong, $250,000 Bing Crosby, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint in November at Keeneland, and Anneau d'Or in the $100,000, 1 1/16-mile Shared Belief Stakes, which offers points toward qualification for a spot in the Kentucky Derby.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has three of the six 3-year-olds entered in the Shared Belief, no surprise considering his annual deep bench of Derby contenders. But it was a surprise Sunday when Baffert entered multi-stakes winning McKinzie in the Crosby.

Wright's reaction: “I'm the kind of guy that those things don't bother me,” he said by telephone Monday. “(Baffert's) got a heck of a stable and obviously he manages it well. I just worry about my own horses and doing what's best for them.”

Anyportinastorm is a 6-year-old owned by Peter Redekop. The son of City Zip has eight wins in 16 career starts, half of them in the last eight months and accomplished in Northern California or Washington, compiling total earnings of $313,025.

“He's been kind of a touchy horse in the past, but he's sound and doing good right now,” Wright said. “When Southern California shippers have come up to Golden Gate Fields or Emerald Downs he's fared well against them. We think it's time to try him against them down there. He's 6 years old and there aren't too many chances in a Grade I for him, so we thought we'd give it a try.”

Wright is inclined to take the “discretion is the better part of valor” approach with Anneau d'Or. The Medaglia d'Or colt, also owned by Redekop and a $480,000 auction purchase in April of last year, raised Kentucky Derby hopes when runner-up to Storm the Court in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November. But he has been off the board in three 2020 starts, all of them Grade I or II stakes.

“I'm 95 percent sure we're going to scratch and go to the Ellis Park Derby,” Wright said of the Shared Belief. “We were supposed to run in the Los Alamitos Derby (July 4), but he came down with something for about 36 hours that had him kind of blah, off his feed and with a small temperature.

“He was fine in a day or so and he had a really good workout (5 furlongs, 1:00.40, 12th of 96 at the distance, July 19). But we're planning on shipping to Kentucky and then staying there up to the Derby.”

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Shirreffs Sends Honor A.P. Out For ‘Practice’ Before Shared Belief Stakes

Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P. led a group of talented 3-year-olds, several with Kentucky Derby potential, in workouts Saturday morning at Del Mar. Honor A.P. and two Bob Baffert trainees, Cezanne and Thousand Words, were undergoing their final major exercise for next Saturday's $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes, which has qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.

The COVID-19 outbreak forced the Run for the Roses to be rescheduled from its traditional first Saturday in May spot to the first Saturday in September.

Honor A.P., trained by John Shirreffs for the C R K Stable of Lee and Susan Searing, went after the second track renovation break, arriving around 8 a.m. under exercise rider Francisco Alvarado. The son of Honor Code worked with 4-year-old winner Takeo, spotting his stablemate a four-length head start before drawing even at the head of the stretch and pulling away.

Del Mar clockers had Honor A.P. with interim fractions of :24.80, :36.60, and an official five-eighths in 1:01.20 while galloping out to six furlongs in 1:14.20.

“From my angle he went 11 (seconds) and change or 12 the last eighth,” Shirreffs commented via text. “The work was practice.”

Unbeaten (2-for-2) Cezanne and Thousand Words, winner of the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity in December and Grade III Robert B. Lewis in February, worked side-by-side for six furlongs in 1:13.80.

Hollywood Gold Cup winner Improbable, being targeted for the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga a week away, was clocked in 1:25.80 in a work slightly compromised when another horse ran loose and alarm sirens were sounded.

“The track I think is a little slow today, but I'm pleased with all of them,” Baffert said. “The loose horse screwed up Improbable's work, but he'll be all right.”

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