Big ‘Cap winner Shared Belief ‘poetry in motion’

Mike Smith wrapped up on Shared Belief well before the duo glided to their Santa Anita Handicap victory (Benoit Photos)

Champion Shared Belief (Candy Ride) floated home an effortless winner in
Saturday’s $1,001,750
Santa
Anita H. (G1), prompting Santa Anita Park track announcer Trevor Denman to
declare his performance “poetry in motion” to the 26,134 fans in
attendance.

Shared Belief is campaigned by Jim and Janet Rome’s Jungle Racing, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Jason Litt, Alex Solis II and George Todaro,
and his connections were also on hand to celebrate the victory.

“It’s an amazing thing,” Jim Rome said.
“It’s like he shows up every single time — he always runs big, is always tough,
and just has a lot of grit, a lot of heart. It’s an absolute dream to be
involved with a horse like this. He never disappoints. I couldn’t be more proud.
I love the horse.

“That horse
knows where the wire is, and he does not like to lose,” Rome added. “I think a
lot of people were caught up in ‘He’s not that big of a horse.’ But he’s long,
he’s balanced. He’s not that tall, but if you cut that horse open and look
inside him, you’ve got a heart that’s bigger than any horse you’ve ever seen. He
looked awesome. When he has a good look at that wire, generally it ends up
pretty well.”

A lot of people are now calling for Shared Belief to travel overseas for the
Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) at Meydan on March 28, but that is unlikely to happen.

Jim Rome and Alex Solis II celebrate Shared Belief’s Big ‘Cap triumph in the Santa Anita winner’s circle (Benoit Photos)

“I’m just so grateful to have a horse like this. You never expect it, so I’m
very pleased to have this horse and hope that we can keep him racing well like
he has been. Horses get ups and downs and he just stays the same and he does
whatever we ask him to do and he seems very happy and enthusiastic about it.

“We’ll wait a day or so and then send him back up to San Francisco.”

When asked about what could be next for Shared Belief, Hollendorfer was
noncommittal.

“I’ll talk it over with my guys and we’ll try to make an intelligent
decision,” he said. “We kind of pointed to this race and thought about some
other things, but we ended up here, so we’ll talk and make a good decision.”

“He surprises me every
time,” jockey Mike Smith said. “I have to pinch myself that I get to be his pilot. It’s Zenyatta, Holy
Bull and then Shared Belief for me. I’m so blessed to have been able to ride all
those great horses and to be the age I am and still be able to do this is a
blessing.

“I’m so humbled right now. Jerry has done such a tremendous
job getting this horse to the races each and every time. It’s just incredible
what they’ve done to get him here. He was probably at his best today and won
with a whole lot left. He won well in hand, hopefully this race didn’t take too
much out of him and we can move onto the next one.”

Moreno (Ghostzapper) attempted to wire the 1 1/4-mile event, taking command
from the start and leading through splits of :23, :46 2/5, 1:10 4/5 and 1:35
2/5. Meanwhile, Smith settled Shared Belief in fourth about four
wide heading past the stands for the first time and kept him in that
trouble-free spot rounding the turn for the first time.

Shared Belief’s Big ‘Cap rivals were no match for the superstar (Benoit Photos)

“He’s a dream to ride. He just oozed confidence today. He
warmed up so good and everything was really great today. He looked probably the
best he’s ever looked,” Smith continued. “Not to take away anything from the competition but I
geared him down a few times and he still won like that.

“I was watching the TV from the quarter-pole to the wire
and I feel bad to say this, but I was trying to not win by so far. It was a
handicap, I was wanting to not do that.”

Smith became the first jockey to win three straight Big ‘Caps when piloting
Shared Belief under the Santa Anita wire.

“No one has been as blessed as me to have been able to ride
the two horses I got to ride to put the three in-a-row,” he said, referring to
the now-retired 2013-14 winner Game On Dude.

It was 4 1/4 lengths back to Moreno,
who just got his head in front of Catch a Flight (Giant’s Causeway) on the line.

Shared Belief’s longterm goal is to find redemption in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Benoit Photos)

After being slammed at the start of the Classic last November by Bayern (Offlee
Wild), the gelding found himself finishing fourth behind not only winner Bayern
but eventual Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male California
Chrome (Lucky Pulpit). The Kentucky-bred gained a measure of revenge against
California Chrome, scoring by 1 1/2 lengths over that rival when the two made
their four-year-old bows in the San Antonio S. (G2) on February 7.

Last year Shared Belief added wins in the Pacific Classic S. (G1), Awesome
Again S. (G1), Malibu S. (G1) and Los Alamitos Derby (G2) to his resume while
competing six times. Despite losing out as the champion three-year-old male of
2014 to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner California Chrome, Shared Belief already
boasted an Eclipse Award entering his sophomore campaign. The dark bay dominated
his three juvenile races, including the CashCall Futurity (G1) and Hollywood
Prevue S. (G3), to be named champion two-year-old male of 2013.

Bred by Pam and Martin Wygod, Shared Belief was purchased privately by his
current connections after his debut conquest as a juvenile at Golden Gate
Fields. A half-brother to Grade 3 vixen Little Miss Holly (Maria’s Mon), he is
out of the winning Common Hope (Storm Cat), who is herself a half-sister to
Grade 1 heroine Key Phrase (Flying Paster) and a three-quarter sister to
stakes-winning sprinter and sire Yankee Gentleman (Storm Cat).