Jungle Racing, KMN Racing, Hollendorfer, Litt, Solis II and Todaro's GI Malibu S. winner Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}) registered his final work ahead of Santa Anita's GII San Antonio S. with a four-furlong breeze in :50.80 at Golden Gate Tuesday. “He went a nice half to set him up for his race on Saturday,” said conditioner Jerry Hollendorfer during an NTRA teleconference. “Last week he had a really great workout in 1:11 4/5, which is a huge workout at Golden Gate–horses don't work that fast [over the artificial surface], so that was our main work to prepare him for the San Antonio. He came out of that very well and he looks well and is acting well. We're coming down [to Santa Anita] in, what we feel is, 100% condition. Shared Belief has been remarkably consistent. I would say that he carries a little more weight than he used to, so have we improved a little bit? I think so.”
Hollendorfer acknowledged that, even though Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) will be part of the San Antonio field, the connections of Shared Belief feel that their charge is fully prepared to face the dual Classic winner.
“This was the race that was coming up that was timely, so this was the one that you have to run in,” Hollendorfer explained. “There's no point in trying to duck anybody. This was the race we were pointing to so, no matter who is running in it, we wanted to try to beat everybody. This is just the next race that we pointed to his year, and when that one's done we'll find another one we'd want to run him in. Of course, we'd like to beat California Chrome, but we'd also like to beat all the other horses that are in there, so we'll see what happens when entries and post positions come out and try to make a plan. I think the significance of the race is that this is what the fans wanted to see. The fans want to see it and we want to put it on, and, I'm sure, Art [Sherman] is looking forward to it as well as I am.”
Hollendorfer said that connections are trying to look at Shared Belief's campaign one race at a time, and that the G1 Dubai World Cup might not be in the cards for the gelding.
“We talked briefly about [the World Cup] among our partners, and we haven't totally ruled it out, but I think the interest level isn't very high for our particular partnership,” the Hall of Famer revealed. “We're enjoying running the horse here in the United States and I think that's where our preferences will lie. I think if the makeup of your horse is such that they can make that trip and come back and run well, so be it, but a lot of them don't. I would never criticize anyone for wanting to go over there and run for the big purse and run in the World Cup race, but I think for us, we're not thinking in that direction.”
As for Shared Belief's troubled trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and eventual fourth-place finish, the conditioner offered, “We've decided to look forward and go forward. Now, we have the situation where we're going to run a big race against good horses and we're happy to be there.”
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