Gunmetal Grey likely to stay home for next start

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gunmetal Gray, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, was reported in good condition on Sunday morning by his trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer, who said he had yet to map out a next start for the 3-year-old colt, but it looks most likely he’ll remain on the local circuit at least for one more start.

Before committing, though, Hollendorfer said he needed to confer with one of his other partners on the colt, West Point Thoroughbreds.

"I'm not 100 percent sure," Hollendorfer said of where Gunmetal Gray would run next. "I have a partner. I need to talk things over with West Point. I'd like to stay home if I can."

Next up on the Kentucky Derby trail here at Santa Anita is the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 2. Hollendorfer and West Point have another promising 3-year-old in Galilean, who could be a candidate for that race, but since he's a California-bred, he could go in the $200,000 California Cup Derby on Feb. 18 before moving into graded stakes competition.

If Galilean remains with Cal-breds for his next start, the Lewis would be appropriate for Gunmetal Gray. But if Galiliean ends up slotted for the Lewis, Gunmetal Gray could be sent on the road.

The fact that the Cal Cup Derby is worth more than the Lewis also would make the Cal Cup more appealing at the moment for Galilean. He'd still have a couple of chances to earn Derby points after that, if he's good enough. That would leave the Lewis for Gunmetal Gray. It's early on the Derby trail. The races with the major points are still a couple of months down the road.

Gunmetal Gray got a Beyer Speed Figure of 82 for the Sham Stakes.

As for Coliseum, who flopped as the favorite in the Sham, he, too, came out of the race well, trainer Bob Baffert, said Sunday morning.

"He came out great, like he didn't run," Baffert said. "He was blowing pretty good after the race. He didn't break."

Coliseum had broken poorly in some gate works prior to his debut, but came out of the gate well in his lone start at Del Mar. He reverted to his bad habits Saturday. In addition, he frequently pulls hard when breaking off from the pole in his workouts, and jockey Joe Talamo said he was rank early in the Sham, too. Basically, he did everything wrong.

"We know he's fast," Baffert said, acknowledging more needs to be worked on.