Shared Belief won the Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday with a 105 Beyer Speed Figure (Photo credit: Los Alamitos Race Course).
The Clones have to be happy after Shared Belief won Saturday’s $500,00 Los Alamitos Derby (G2) in his first stakes run since winning the CashCall Futurity (G1) last December.
Owned in part by Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing, Shared Belief won Saturday’s Los Alamitos Derby by 4 ¼ lengths as the 8-5 favorite and earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort.
The runner up was Candy Boy, who won the Robert B. Lewis (G3) and was third in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) before checking in a troubled 13th in the Kentucky Derby.
Last year’s Eclipse Award winner for top juvenile, Shared Belief was knocked off the Kentucky Derby trail with foot problems, and did not make his three-year-old debut until May 26 against allowance foes, three weeks after California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby (G1).
The gelding is now perfect in five career starts and his win on Saturday was his first on conventional dirt. He has won his five starts by a combined 28 ¼ lengths. The colt has earned $772,000 for his five career wins.
“I’ve had the same questions as you guys about whether he could run on dirt and most of all if he could get the distance,” Rome said after the race. “I was a little concerned, but then he did what he does. Shared Belief did Shared Belief things and it ended pretty well.’’
Couldn’t be more proud of The Champ, #SharedBelief pic.twitter.com/jtXGR5gypR
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) July 6, 2014
The colt now is in line for a $1 million bonus. The Los Alamitos Racing Association and the California-based insurance brokerage firm Bolton & Company sponsored the $1 million Bolton Challenge. In order to complete the Challenge, a horse needs to win the Los Alamitos Derby, $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (Aug. 24 at Del Mar) and the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (Nov. 1 at Santa Anita).
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said the colt would take on older in his next start in the Pacific Classic, which would mean a return to a synthetic surface.
The colt would probably have to sweep the Pacific Classic and the Breeders’ Cup Classic to overtake Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome for top three-year-old honors, but if Hollendorfer can keep the colt healthy, he is going to be a major player not only among his own division but also against older as well.
2014 Los Alamitos Derby
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