CashCall Futurity swan song features contentious field

Tamarando is one of the top draws in Saturday’s CashCall Futurity (Benoit Photos)

A well-matched field of 13 juveniles has been entered to go 1 1/16 miles at
Hollywood Park on Saturday in the Grade 1, $750,000

CashCall Futurity. This will be the final running of the race formerly known
as the Hollywood Futurity, at least at its namesake track which is scheduled to
close permanently following the current meet.

Past participants in the Futurity have included such stars as classic winners
and champions Lookin at Lucky, Real Quiet, Thunder Gulch and Snow Chief as well
as Horses of the Year Point Given, A.P. Indy and Ferdinand.

This year’s final edition features numerous Triple Crown hopefuls like
Tamarando, Bond Holder, Tap It Rich and Shared Belief.

Tamarando has a slight advantage in the race in that the Bertrando juvenile
already owns a Grade 1 win. Admittedly that came when going seven furlongs on
the synthetic Polytrack in the Del Mar Futurity on September 4, but the Jerry
Hollendorfer pupil proved his liking for Hollywood Park’s all-weather Cushion
Track with a 3 1/4-length score in the 8 1/2-furlong Real Quiet last out.

Shared Belief will put his perfect mark on the line in the CashCall Futurity (Benoit Photos)

That probably won’t hold true for either Bond Holder or Tap It Rich. Both ran
in the Breeders’ Cup and finished fourth and fifth, respectively, behind
Juvenile victor New Year’s Day, who entered that race owning just a maiden win.
Some Eclipse voters might weigh the maiden status of New Year’s Day against
Tamarando’s overall record, but considering Bond Holder and Tap It Rich lost in
the main event their prior efforts probably won’t factor.

Bond Holder actually broke his maiden when taking the FrontRunner prior to
the Breeders’ Cup, while Tap It Rich owned just a maiden win himself entering
the championship race. Mario Gutierrez has the call on the Doug O’Neill-trained
Bond Holder, while Mike Smith retains the mount on the Bob Baffert-conditioned
Tap It Rich.

In addition to Tamarando, Hollendorfer will send out Shared Belief to put his
perfect two-for-two mark on the line in the CashCall Futurity. The Candy Ride
gelding romped by seven lengths to take his maiden debut on Golden Gate Fields’
Tapeta for trainer J.B. Josephson before joining Hollendorfer’s shedrow in time
to take the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue by 7 3/4 lengths on November 10. Shared
Belief will be stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time off those
sprint efforts, and brings jockey Corey Nakatani along for the ride.