Shared Belief to face 12 in Santa Anita Handicap

Arcadia, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Eclipse Award winner Shared Belief heads a field of 13 older horses for Saturday’s $1 million Santa Anita Handicap.

Shared Belief, trained and co-owned by Jerry Hollendorfer, is the overwhelming 3-5 favorite and will start the 1 1/4-mile Big ‘Cap from post 5 with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith again riding.

“I think there’s room for him to step up even a little bit more than he’s shown, so we’ll see what happens,” Smith said. “He’s been training really well since, from what I hear, so all systems are go. We’re excited about it.”

Four weeks ago Shared Belief captured the San Antonio Invitational over 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome and has been made the 125 pound highweight for the race. The 4-year-old gelding is giving away from four to 11 pounds.

“I don’t think Jerry had any complaints,” said Jerry Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward of the 125 assigned to Shared Belief. “The racing secretary told us Shared Belief is the best horse in the country,”

Shared Belief, the 2013 champion 2-year-old male, has won nine of 10 career starts for $2,332,200. After suffering his only defeat in November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, the gelding won the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita and was a finalist for the 2014 Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male.

Here is the field for the Big ‘Cap in post position order: Cool Samurai, Aaron Gryder, 30-1; Diamond Bachelor, Martin Pedroza, 50-1; Sr. Quisqueyano, Joe Talamo, 10-1; Dynamic Sky, Corey Nakatani, 15-1; Shared Belief, Mike Smith, 3-5; Moreno, Santiago Gonzalez, 6-1; Patrioticandproud, Elvis Trujillo, 20-1; You Know I Know, Drayden Van Dyke, 30-1; Crimson Giant, Brandon Boulanger, 50-1; Imperative, Kent Desormeaux, 30-1; Bronzo, Tyler Baze, 10-1; Catch a Flight, Gary Stevens, 12-1 and Hard Aces, Victor Espinoza, 12-1.

The Big ‘Cap has an approximate post time of 8 p.m. ET.

Categorized in: Horses