Hollendorfer pleased with Shared Belief's progress

The problematic foot of Shared Belief is “almost to that perfect point,” and he could finally begin working soon, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Tuesday on a national teleconference.

“I think you’ll see some works in the next couple of weeks,” Hollendorfer said.

Shared Belief was the champion 2-year-old male of last year, when he won all three of his starts, including the CashCall Futurity. But a foot injury has kept him from serious training for the past couple of months and forced him out of the Triple Crown.

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“It started out as an abscess, came out of his heel, and then as we went on some sand worked its way down in there and it got undermined a little,” Hollendorfer said. “We patched it, but that didn’t work so well, and we had to take it off.

“Sometimes with feet it’s a long and drawn-out process. If you don’t have patience, you’re going to lose a lot more time.”

Shared Belief had been based earlier this year at Santa Anita, but was then sent to Golden Gate Fields. Hollendorfer said one of the reasons Shared Belief is at Golden Gate is because he wanted his wife, Janet, who assists him at Golden Gate, “to work on that foot.”