At least he is still running

yeah, and if it keeps up Candy Ride could soon be a fashionable sire.

You speak like you know the trainer, this isn't some allowance horse. He was 2yr old champ, right? Now they might skip the prestigious Los Al Derby? Whats the excuse for that?

Actually i do know him personally, and do have communication with him occasionally. But not in this situation. I have no idea what he is thinking with Shared Belief. I'm sure he has a good plan for the horse. I'm sure his ultimate goal is the Breeders Cup. I know you feel he owes the racing public grade 1 races right now, but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit...

He's a gelding. What's the point?

I'd give him a race later this summer, one in the fall and point to the BC dirt mile. They can be much more aggressive next year knowing more about his ability to run on dirt and go long.

I think Hollendorfer has it under control..lol

Los Al added a $1 million bonus if shared belief wins the Pacific and bc classic.

It's too bad he can't handle dirt.

Pacific Classic next.

I would like to see him stay on dirt, as I think the Del Mar surface is an abomination that is especially ill suited for a horse that runs with Shared Beliefs style.

I've never been a fan of synthetic racing surfaces, but the cushion track at least played fairly similar to dirt, which was one of the two reasons I had no doubt Shared Belief would like dirt racing.

I'd hope Dorf gets some work with him over the track, but hell, that terrible surface has seen many horses work great over it in the mornings only to see them unable to run a step in the afternoon.

I'd just as soon see him go in one of the Arlington turf races, over anything at Del Mar.

I don't know what the track will be like this year at Del Mar. I thought last year was a definite abomination. There was actually a fairly big speed bias there last year. The track isn't usually like that. It usually plays like your typical synthetic track. Turf horses usually like it. Acclamation who is a grass horse won the Pacific Classic in 2011. Synthetic horses usually like it. Dullahan, who didn't seem to run really well on anything but synthetic (he won the Blue Grass at Keeneland), won the Pacific Classic. I don't see any reason why Shared Belief wouldn't love Del Mar. He ran great at Golden Gate in both of his races there. He ran great at Hollywood Park which was really a track that played half way in between a dirt and synthetic track.

Shared Belief looks like he can run on anything. So far he's run on 3 different tracks and he's undefeated. No matter how Del Mar plays this year, I would bet that Shared Belief has no problem with the track. He seems like a pretty adaptable type of horse. The handicap division on the west coast is terrible right now. I would definitely make Shared Belief the favorite for the Pacific Classic even though I rarely like 3 year olds in there.

I didn't follow Del Mar last year and don't know anything about it being speed favoring.

Poly, Tapeta and Cushion are quite different from each other. Cushion plays the most like dirt.

His wins at Golden Gate were against such vastly inferior competition that I think those two races are pretty useless for evaporating him fairly.

I do think it's likely he'd win the Pacific Classic, but in my estimation, he is the most vulnerable in that spot.

Million dollar bonus is big as he is a gelding right? They arent shipping east for the Travers when they can ship to Delmar for same money. Who is going to beat him in Pac? Game on Dude loose on lead?

You miss my point.

Clearly he's the best horse aiming for the race.

I have my concerns that that racing surface is anti conducive to him running his optimal race.

I think the bonus, while nice, is of secondary value. The purse money from the three races is much greater than the bonus.

I'd guesstimate first place prize money from all three races to be around $3.9 million.

I am not sure he can run down a loose on the lead GOD, Hollendorfer will probably enter a rabbit again.

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to believe GOD might be pretty tough in there. If loose, that is.

This really does have to be the worst reasonable spot for him.

He would be. And for you to say Shared Belief is the best horse pointing to race is pure comedy. GOD has won multiple G1's and a good 2nd in a BC Classic. The other horse has won a very soft Juvy G1. I dont think Shared Belief will ever in his life run a race like GOD Big Cap this year.

I think he's a really nice horse but am getting very confused by the whole second coming tone going on in this thread.

I'm wondering who else is pointing to the Pacific Classic (aside from the other GoD horse) and am already kind of feeling bad for him cause the whole disappointment turning into disgust, stick-a-fork-in-him mentality is, I fear, a real possibility. (No disrespect meant... I just think your expectations might be a tad too high).

Not to sound like a complete idiot but is California Chrome going to the Pacific Classic?

I'm thinking that Game on Dude is done. If he runs one of his freak type of races, he may win easily. But I don't see that happening.

From what I've read, the PAC classic isn't the plan. Los Al supposedly going to write a race for him as a BC prep.

Thats possible.