Calculator figures to break through in Sham

Calculator was the second-best 2-year-old on the West Coast – and perhaps in the country – last summer and fall, when he finished second in consecutive Grade 1 races behind American Pharoah. He has run so well that trainer Peter Miller has decided for the third consecutive time to bypass an easier spot and instead try graded-stakes company, this time in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

The easier spot? A maiden race.

Despite his obvious talent and achievement, Calculator still is winless in four starts. Yet Calculator likely will be favored Saturday against seven rivals who all have won races.

Calculator has not raced since the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes in September, in which he split American Pharoah and third-place finisher Texas Red. They are two of the three finalists – along with Hootenanny – for the 2014 Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male.

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“That bodes well for him,” Miller said Thursday. “He beat Texas Red, and he has two seconds against American Pharoah. If he continues his progression, he’s got to be one of the top 3-year-olds out there.”

Texas Red went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Both American Pharoah and Calculator were forced to miss that race with injuries. In the case of Calculator, he was withdrawn the morning of the Juvenile with a foot bruise.

Miller wanted to come back with Calculator in the Los Alamitos Futurity in December, “but he got sick on me,” Miller said.

Calculator has had three works since recovering, including a six-furlong drill in 1:11.60 last Sunday at Santa Anita that was the best of 32 at the distance.

Miller has three of the eight runners in the one-mile Sham. In addition to Calculator, he sends out Rock Shandy and St. Joe Bay.

The Sham, race 6 on a nine-race card, offers 17 points – including 10 to the winner – under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the May 2 Kentucky Derby should more than 20 enter.

KEY CONTENDERS

Calculator (Last 3 Beyers: 95-90-77)

◗ There is only one other horse in this race who has ever run a Beyer Speed Figure in the 80s, let alone the 90s, so Calculator is clearly the best horse on figs.

◗ Miller said the sharp work last Sunday was the deciding factor on whether to run this weekend, but he allowed that Calculator “might not be 100 percent tight.”

“He’s tight enough to run, and run well,” Miller said.

Rockinatten (Last 3 Beyers: 86-64-65)

◗ He was privately purchased following his last race, a maiden sprint win at Gulfstream Park West. He added blinkers and ran a much-improved race from his first two efforts.

Unblunted (Last 3 Beyers: 65-78-53)

◗ He was an impressive winner at Santa Anita in a good field of maidens in his second start, then took the scenic route in finishing fifth in the Gold Rush at Golden Gate in his first start on synthetic.

Hero Ten All (Beyers: 75-70)

◗ One of two entered by trainer Jeff Mullins – who also has Papacoolpapacool – he beat maidens last time in his first start around two turns after a fine runner-up effort in his debut behind the unbeaten Dortmund.