Reincarnate ($35) scores upset, gives Baffert fourth consecutive Sham win

ARCADIA, Calif. – The distance was too short, the competition too tough, and in hindsight the odds were too high on an improving 3-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert.

Reincarnate ($35) scored a front-running upset in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita, the ninth Sham victory and fourth in a row for Baffert, whose Newgate rallied from last to miss by a neck. Baffert-trained odds-on National Treasure finished third in the five-horse field. Packs a Wahlop finished fourth.

The race was marred when Spun Intended, second choice in the betting, pulled up in the stretch and did not finish. He sustained an unspecified injury to his left front. He walked onto the horse ambulance.

The early indication from Spun Intended trainer Mark Glatt was positive. “The horse is okay, he’s alive and he’ll be fine,” Glatt said an hour after the race. He was not specific regarding the severity of Spun Intended’s injury.

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Many expected the Sham to be an exhibition for 3-5 favorite National Treasure, who trained super for his first start since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But he did not break well, found himself inside and behind horses, and was unable to get comfortable.

“I was in position, but I couldn’t get him running when I wanted to,” jockey Johnny Velazquez said. By the time that National Treasure angled out for the drive, “too late,” Velazquez said.

Baffert said, “National Treasure, he was never comfortable. He never could get him in a comfortable spot. So we have to work with him, get him relaxed, chill him out a little bit.”

The opposite is true of Reincarnate. Runner-up his first three starts before winning a maiden race last out, Reincarnate showed unexpected speed as the longest shot in the field. Juan Hernandez did not expect to set the pace. “Today, he broke really sharp and actually he surprised me,” Hernandez said. The jockey called an audible and let Reincarnate go on with it.

Reincarnate raced inside Spun Intended though a quick half-mile in 45.57 and six furlongs in 1:09.55. Reincarnate shook away, and held by a neck. The final time was fast, 1:35.87. At the mile distance of the Sham, Baffert said Reincarnate was just getting warmed up.

“The thing about him is, a mile and an eighth is what he wants,” Baffert said. “He’s a stayer. We always say he’s my Belmont horse.”

For now, Reincarnate has emerged as a top Baffert-trained candidate for the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 8. Newgate also ran well stretching out from a runner-up finish in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Bob Hope. Frankie Dettori took Newgate off the pace to last, he rallied to second while three-quarters of a length in front of National Treasure.

Baffert entered four in the Sham, but Speed Boat Beach scratched. Baffert said the seven-furlong, Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes on Jan. 29 was an option.

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