McKinzie, Shivermetimbers get rematch in Sham

ARCADIA, Calif. – More than two months have elapsed since McKinzie crushed Shivermetimbers in a maiden race at Santa Anita going seven furlongs. But when they meet again Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, the race figures to be a whole lot closer, what with Shivermetimbers having improved when sent two turns in his last start.

“He’s improving steadily,” Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains Shivermetimbers, said Thursday morning at Santa Anita. “We feel like he deserves a chance.”

McKinzie, though, will be the strong favorite in the one-mile Sham, for 3-year-olds. He was a 5 1/2-length winner of his debut Oct. 28 – beating Shivermetimbers by 6 1/2 lengths – and then was awarded first in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity Dec. 9 when his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Solomini was disqualified.

It’s rare for a horse who runs well in the Los Alamitos Futurity to come back in a month, but McKinzie has competed just twice, and Baffert wants him to get more experience. Illustrative of that need for experience is that McKinzie wore blinkers in his first two starts, but because of the way he behaved under Mike Smith last time out they are being removed for the Sham, even though he’s 2 for 2.

“He got a little rank last time with Mike, and he took off and made a big, long, extended run,” Baffert said Thursday morning. “He broke his maiden, and then I threw him in the stakes and he ran well. I didn’t want to wait on him another month to run him.”

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Baffert also is sending out Mourinho, who tries two turns in his fourth start and first race since finishing second to Greyvitos in the Grade 3 Bob Hope at Del Mar on Nov. 11. Baffert said he “wanted to run at Oaklawn, but I couldn’t get a plane” for the $150,000 Smarty Jones on Jan. 15. Mourinho, who has never finished worse than second in three starts, will add blinkers for the Sham.

Shivermetimbers is clearly the main threat to McKinzie. His maiden win last time out was his first try around two turns and his best race yet – he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90, two points inferior to McKinzie’s fig in the Los Alamitos Futurity – and the form was franked when runner-up Peace came back to beat maidens on Dec. 30.

“We thought that was quite significant,” Hollendorfer said of Peace’s win.

Smith rode Shivermetimbers to his maiden win, but chose McKinzie for this race, so Flavien Prat has picked up the mount on Shivermetimbers.

In addition to the Baffert duo and Shivermetimbers, there are four others in the race, most notably the speedy All Out Blitz, who beat maidens last time out at Los Alamitos and figures to set a lively pace along with Mourinho.

My Boy Jack moves back to the dirt after achieving significant success on turf, including a win in the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 9. He has not run since finishing seventh, beaten just three lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 3 at Del Mar.

City Plan added Lasix and won the Gold Rush Stakes on synthetic at Golden Gate in his last start.

Here Is Happy has been gelded since finishing last of six in the Bob Hope. He adds blinkers and tries two turns for the first time.

The Sham goes as race 5 on a nine-race card, and this is a pivotal betting race as it is the final leg of the early pick five and first leg of the late pick five. The race is worth 17 points (10-4-2-1) toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby.