I thought an underlying reason why California Chrome went to Dubai was to essentially "duck" Shared Belief. The San Antonio Invitational (along with the BC Classic) was sort of billed as a budding rivalry between the two and the way the race turned out it seemed a good possibility. Despite Shared Belief's emphatic win, California Chrome ran well off the layoff and perhaps would have been sharper for the Big Cap. Instead, the owners took their ball and went elsewhere.
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