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Brisnet.com Triple Crown Throwdown: Shared Belief

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN’s Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins.

DeRosa – Haskell Result – Longshot Jesus’ Team was fourth. Bankroll: $4960.

Shared Belief S. – The Shared Belief could provide needed points to Cezanne and lagniappe to Honor A. P., so we’ll go with the horse who actually needs the points to compete in the GI Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. There’s more to it than that, of course, as Cezanne has both a tactical (front-end) and weight (-6 pounds) over his chief rival in what has become a compact field. Selection: #6 Cezanne (7-2).

Sherack – Haskell Result – Not exactly how you want to see a 3-5 shot win, but Authentic just hung on for a narrow decision after having a pretty easy time of it up front. Bankroll: $3425.

Shared Belief S. – With the expected late scratches of a couple of contenders, this can turn into an oddly run race for the remaining field of four. That being said, it’s awfully hard to make a case against who I firmly believe is the best 3-year-old in the country, even at a short price. Selection: #5 Honor A. P. (8-5).

DiDonato – Haskell Result – How in the world did they let Authentic get so loose? Dr Post always seemed under a ride and settled for third. I was a little surprised to see them choose the Haskell over Runhappy Travers given his grindy style, and would expect him to run a bit better at Churchill, though not sure he can beat the top few. Bankroll: $5125.

Shared Belief S. – I don’t see Honor A. P. losing this race and, given the current contest standings, there’s no real reason for me to try and get creative. Looking forward to the heavyweight match-up between him, Tiz the Law and Art Collector in Kentucky. Selection: #5 Honor A. P. (8-5).

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Shirreffs Has An ‘Emotional Connection’ To Shared Belief Favorite Honor A. P.

Del Mar will be the venue for a Kentucky Derby prep race Saturday, the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes.

Weird, right?

“Nothing feels weird this year, weird is the norm,” said John Shirreffs, trainer of 8-5 morning line favorite Honor A. P.

Amen to that.

Back on March 30, Churchill Downs announced that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Run for the Roses – a worldwide sports calendar fixture on the first Saturday in May – would be moved to the first Saturday in September for its 146th running. Likely a somewhat unsettling announcement to many trainers with Derby candidates in their stables. But, of course, not to Shirreffs.

“It didn't require any big adjustment,” Shirreffs said matter of factly – his default attitude on most matters. “We waited for the San Felipe and then the Santa Anita Derby, which was the regular plan.”

Honor A. P., a son of Honor Code and grandson of champion A.P. Indy, made his racing debut at 6 furlongs with a fast-closing runner-up finish at Del Mar on August 17 of last year. Stretched to a mile two months later, he was a 5 1/4 –length winner at Santa Anita to end a 2-year-old campaign that, while brief, caught the eye of Derby watchers.

He was second to Authentic in the Grade II, 1 1/16-mile San Felipe on March 20, beaten 2 ¼ lengths, but turned the tables in the COVID-delayed, 1 1/18-mile Santa Anita Derby on June 6, winning by 2 ¾-lengths.

The win elevated Honor A. P. to the top, or near it, on Derby Watch lists. But it necessitated a decision for Shirreffs and owners C R K Stable of Lee and Susan Searing of Arcadia, CA, regarding the next stop on the Derby trail. Go east for one of several large-purse races or stay in Southern California for the Shared Belief?

In anticipation of being a Derby prep — one that would offer Derby “points” (50-20-10-5 to the first four finishers) — the Shared Belief had been moved back a few weeks on the Del Mar scheduled and advanced from a mile to 1 1/16 miles in distance. The next race call went to the Shared Belief.

Honor A. P. has worked four times over the Del Mar surface and Shirreffs said: “I think he's coming into this race as well as he was for the Santa Anita Derby.”

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, aboard for all four of Honor A. P.'s starts, describes him as a “big, strong, developing colt,” who could wind up benefitting from the delay of the Derby with the extra time for maturity and experience.

Shirreffs says: “He's got a great stride on him and he's light on his feet. My job is finding ways to get him to relax; to learn a little more race by race.”

Shirreffs trained the colt's dam, Hollywood Story. “That gives me an emotional connection,” he said. “But I really benefit from training his sister Hollywood Girl. That helps a lot because they're alike in that they're really competitive and have similar dispositions.”

Honor A. P. has reunited Shirreffs and Smith for a third Derby run in the past 15 years. In 2005, they combined for a victory in Louisville on 50-1 Giacomo, to that point the second-biggest longshot winner in Derby history. Giacomo paid $102.60 to win and was the front of a superfecta that returned more than $1.7 million.

Giacomo had finished fourth in the Santa Anita Derby a month earlier and was part of a crop of California 3-year-olds that was largely dismissed as contenders.

“(Giacomo) had run a creditable Santa Anita Derby but he hadn't won any of the preps,” Shirreffs recalled. “Mike was the one who encouraged us to go on; he thought he'd do better at the mile and a quarter.”

Unlike the betting public, Smith was sold on Giacomo – owned by recording executive Jerry Moss and his wife Anne and named for the son of the musician Sting.

“I really believed going in that he had a good shot,” Smith remembered. “I told everyone I knew 'Don't leave him out.' I knew the mile and a quarter would be right up his alley.”

A stone closer, Giacomo was 17th of 20 in the early going, well off a blistering pace, but stormed down the stretch to win by a half length and provide Smith with his first Derby victory in his 12th start.

“None of the Southern California races set up for him,” Smith said. “He ran in a tough year and didn't get credit for being as good as he was. But he was a really good horse. For him to come back (to Del Mar) the next year and win the San Diego Handicap was really something.”

Giacomo went into the 2006 San Diego Handicap winless in four starts following the Kentucky Derby. He was the sixth Derby winner to race at Del Mar, but only fourth choice in a field of eight at 5-1 on the morning line. Reminiscent of the Derby, he made a gritty stretch run and prevailed over Bob Baffert trainee Preachinathebar by a head in the final jump.

“He might have redeemed himself today. And he might have redeemed me too,” Smith said after the race.

“It was like the Derby again wasn't it,” Shirreffs said. “He won the Derby, so anything (negative) anybody said about him has gone in one ear and out the other.”

The win by Giacomo was the 15th of a now 70 total stakes victories in 19 seasons at Del Mar, 10th all time, for Smith. It was the fifth stakes win for Shirreffs, who has added 11 more in subsequent years, three of them coming in consecutive runnings of the Clement L. Hirsch (2008, '09, '10) by his marvelous mare Zenyatta.

What does Smith think of riding in a Kentucky Derby prep at Del Mar?

“It's very different, but this has been a very different kind of year,” the rider said.

That makes it unanimous.

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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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Doug Peterson’s Son Wins in MLB Debut

David Peterson, the son of Doug Peterson, who trained Seattle Slew during his 4-year-old year, had a night to remember Tuesday as he was the winning pitcher in his MLB debut.

Peterson, 24, led the Mets to an 8-3 win over the lowly Boston Red Sox.

“This is one of the greatest days of my life,” Peterson said. “This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid, and to go out there and make my first major league start, we got the win and I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

Doug Peterson, just 26 at the time, was a little known trainer when Seattle Slew’s owners called on him to take over for the fired Billy Turner. Peterson guided Slew to wins in the GI Marlboro Cup, the GI Woodward and the GIII Stuyvesant H. He was named champion older male of 1978.

Peterson’s story ended in tragedy in 2004 when he died of an accidental drug overdose. David, his only child, was nine at the time. David subsequently moved to Colorado, where he was raised by his grandmother.

Peterson, who is 6′ foot 6″, two inches taller than his father, was taken in the first round of the draft by the Mets in 2017. He was a standout pitcher at the University of Oregon.

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