Hovdey: Shared Belief readies for the next round

What a difference a year makes. Apparently, not much.

One year ago, Beholder was running in the Zenyatta Stakes, Shared Belief was in the headlines, and Victor Espinoza was voted off the show.

Twelve months later, and here is Beholder again in the Zenyatta Stakes, while Shared Belief is making news, and Espinoza has been voted off another show.

Matters of good taste aside (“Is that a sombrero, or are you just glad to see me?”), Espinoza gets high marks for submitting to the lowest-common-denominator fun and games of “Dancing With the Stars.” If not exactly the reincarnation of Tommy Tune, Espinoza at least came off as a charming, lighthearted representative of a sport that has no real impact on mainstream culture beyond a Triple Crown winner every 37 years or so. That he was voted off the show before either Gary Busey or Paula Deen is evidence that there is no god who watches television on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, back in horse racing’s little corner of the world, the most popular animal not named American Pharoah will step from behind the curtain on Saturday at Santa Anita Park when Beholder takes on a modest bunch in the $300,000 Zenyatta at 8 1/2 furlongs on the main track.

What a difference a race makes. Beholder is a 5-year-old mare with a polished gem of a record who was virtually anonymous until she unleashed her inner Secretariat in the Pacific Classic for the team of Richard Mandella, Gary Stevens, and owner B. Wayne Hughes. It was a transformational moment for the game, driving wise fans to wonder what they’d missed, or where she had been all this time.

Consider, though, her opportunities for exposure. Both of Beholder’s Breeders’ Cup victories, in 2012 and 2013, took place on the Friday afternoon portion of the two-day event. Friday afternoon, as anyone in the business knows, is where you bury bad news.

Beholder’s other nationally televised appearances came in the 2013 Kentucky Oaks, where she lost both her cool behind the gate and the race, but not by much, and then in the 2014 Ogden Phipps on the Belmont Stakes card, where she finished what appeared to be a flat fourth. Too bad the TV cameras were not in the spit barn afterward to watch her bleeding from a frightening wound on a back leg.

All has been sweetness and light for Beholder since the late spring, and now the Zenyatta will be her launch point for a run at the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31. In the meantime, her fellow Pacific Classic winner Shared Belief has reached a milestone of his own. One year after his victory in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita and five months after his injury in the Charles Town Classic, he has returned to serious track work at the Pegasus Equine Rehabilitation Center near Seattle.

Shared Belief, fresh from victory in the Santa Anita Handicap, cracked his hip bone in the West Virginia race and suffered only the second defeat of his career. As a 4-year-old, he was poised for a breakout season that should have culminated at Keeneland. Instead, the Jerry Hollendorfer crew had to put their hopes on hold.

The 2014 Awesome Again may have been Shared Belief’s most impressive win. Unbeaten at the time, he was carried unnecessarily wide around the first turn and down the backstretch by Sky Kingdom and Espinoza and then had to race wide around the far turn and into the stretch before winning by a neck. Trakus technology had Shared Belief running about 66 feet farther than runner-up Fed Biz.

At a subsequent hearing, Santa Anita stewards Bruno Tonioli, Julianne Hough, and Len Goodman (I may have that wrong) declared that Espinoza’s waltz with Sky Kingdom was not pretty and suspended him for seven days. It was a stern slap but still not as bad as losing to Gary Busey.

While Hoppertunity and Bayern meet in Saturday’s version of the Awesome Again, Shared Belief will be continuing his routine at Pegasus, where trainer Mike Puhich and assistants Melissa Ledford and Jason Orman have been supervising the rehab.

“The program is that it’s his world, and we’re going to live in it for a while,” Puhich said. “His injury is healed, but now he needs to do some developmental healing, so he goes out there and jogs or canters about a mile and a half. Melissa rides him, and they’re just having fun right now. We’ll do that for about three weeks, then see how things are looking, get together with Jerry, and probably set up a game plan.”

Owned by Jim Rome and partners, Shared Belief is a gelding, so there is no rush. And there is something to be said about a substantial break in training, whether forced by injury or not.

“Physically, he’s a different, more mature horse,” Puhich said. “Before, he wasn’t a real eye-popping horse. Now, he’s got more shoulder. He’s filled into his frame, more muscular. I guess Mother Nature took care of all that.”

Clearly, Shared Belief has made a lasting impression, no matter what comes next.

“You always say, ‘He’s a cool horse,’ when they’ve done what he’s done,” Puhich said. “But even if he’d never won a race, he’s just one of those horses who’s real special to be around.”