Grade 3, $98,500 Sham Stakes, Santa Anita, Jan. 8, 2023 (10 qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, 1 for fifth) Winner: Reincarnate, by Good Magic Trainer: Bob Baffert Jockey: Juan Hernandez Owner: SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Beyer Speed Figure: 95 Distance - time: 1 mile - 1:35.87 Win margin: Neck The Sham might be an early season prep, but in recent seasons the race has been nothing like a . . . sham. Newgrange didn’t elevate the roster of Sham winners in 2022, but Life Is Good won in 2021, Authentic in 2020, and McKinzie in 2018. A thread connecting those horses is Bob Baffert trained them all, and in the 2023 renewal, Baffert sent out the first three home. The trio finished opposite their respective odds, with 16-1 REINCARNATE a neck better than 5-1 NEWGATE, who was three-quarters of a length in front of odds-on favorite NATIONAL TREASURE, who had 23 lengths on PACKS A WHALOP, who failed to handle a turf-to-dirt move. The promising colt SPUN INTENDED went wrong in upper stretch, was pulled up, and vanned off the course. :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  The raw splits of the one-mile race, 22.48 and 45.57, were red-hot for January 3-year-olds going a two-turn mile, but that’s just how the Santa Anita track was playing on this card, and considering the nature of the surface, the pace merely was fast, not scorching. Reincarnate broke alertly but unlike Spun Intended, who wound up pushing the pace to his outside, Reincarnate wasn’t used to get to the front. At the seven-eighths pole, Reincarnate crossed in front of Newgate and made it to the fence, but by the six-furlong marker, Spun Intended had come alongside and put his nose in front. The pair ran together down the backstretch before Juan Hernandez, as the far turn loomed, began moving his hands slightly more vigorously along Reincarnate’s neck, his mount responding by opening a half-length on Spun Intended. Reincarnate had put his pace rival away passing the quarter pole and had gone clear by nearly a length at the head of the homestretch, but what happened between that point and the furlong grounds is lost to history, Santa Anita opting to cut out the portion of the video that shows Spun Intended pulling up with his injury. When the film resumes at the eighth pole, wide-rallying Newgate has gotten a narrow lead on Reincarnate, who digs in along the rail, mainly under strong hand encouragement, and forges back to the front, final furlong in 13.11, for a neck victory in a time of 1:35.87. Reincarnate required four starts to win a maiden race, finishing second to the Baffert-trained Fort Bragg in his third-start route debut, then beating the Baffert-trained Mr Fisk (who came back to win a maiden dirt route) on Nov. 25 at Del Mar. Baffert said he’d thought of Reincarnate as his “Belmont horse,” a big, strong galloper who’d run all day. Now, the colt surely has risen higher in the pecking order. Newgate raced with blinkers removed while cutting back from a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland to the seven-furlong Bob Hope Stakes on Nov. 20 at Del Mar, where he was an improved second behind Havnameltdown (trained, of course, by Baffert). Close to fast paces in his first four starts, Newgate broke tepidly from the fence  in the Sham and was last by a few lengths into the first turn. There he stayed down the backstretch and into the far turn, going along in a relaxed manner, before being asked for a bit more as at the head of the bend, much more passing the three-furlong marker. Newgate responded, picking up quickly to come between a fading Packs a Wahlop and Spun Intended, spinning widest into the stretch while bearing down on Reincarnate. Again, the lack of video leaves a hole in race analysis, and what we’re left seeing is Newgate seeming to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the final 150 yards, either through ebbing stamina or lack of focus. He did turn in the best race of his career here. :: Get Santa Anita Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day.  National Treasure, second to Cave Rock in the American Pharoah and third to Forte and Cave Rock in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was urged out of the gate but fell in just behind the speed and had to be eased off Reincarnate’s heels partway around the first turn. From there, he raced inside Packs a Wahlop and behind Reincarnate down the backstretch and into the far turn, his rider niggling him along a bit to maintain his position after the half-mile pole. He was asked to split fading Spun Intended and Reincarnate at the quarter pole and could not quite hit the hole while somewhat short of room. The jockey begins going for a rail run when the video cuts out and when it resumes has guided National Treasure outside his two stablemates. In the final 50 yards he finally begins gaining on that pair, too late, and quickly gallops out past them. National Treasure now has run twice in blinkers, twice without them, and he’s leaving the sense there’s more talent there than yet has been fully manifest. Trainer Jeff Mullins said before Packs a Wahlop failed to make much of an impact in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf that the colt trained strongly on dirt and would at some point get a chance on the surface. Here it was, and Packs a Wahlop performed like – a grass horse. He was affected by Spun Intended being pulled up but already was out of contention when unable to go with the Baffert trio at the quarter pole. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.