Santa Anita: Shared Belief misses workout due to grabbed quarter

ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the unbeaten winner of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity and a finalist for the Eclipse Award as champion male 2-year-old, had a scheduled workout for this weekend postponed after suffering a cut to his right front hoof, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Sunday morning at Santa Anita.

The injury, commonly known as a “grabbed quarter,” is minor, said Hollendorfer, who said he decided the prudent approach was to merely wait it out.

“He’s got a little bit of a grabbed quarter in his right front. I’m not satisfied with it,” Hollendorfer said. “I don’t have to work him, so I’m not going to, not until I’m perfectly satisfied.”

Shared Belief has been on the track for routine training daily.

Hollendorfer has said that the Grade 2, $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 8 was the first race under consideration in 2014 for Shared Belief, but he has always said he would consider waiting for the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 8 if he thought that was a smarter way to go. With both races weeks away, Hollendorfer said there was no pressure to force in a workout this weekend.

Hollendorfer’s top local assistant, Dan Ward, has been in favor of waiting for the San Felipe.

One advantage of going in the San Felipe over the Lewis is that the San Felipe is worth far more points under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine eligibility to the May 3 Kentucky Derby should more than the maximum of 20 horses enter the race. The San Felipe is worth 50 points to the winner, while the Lewis is worth only 10 to the winner.

Shared Belief has won all three of his starts, most recently the CashCall Futurity on Dec. 14, but has zero points on the Derby points list since the CashCall Futurity was eliminated by Churchill Downs as a points race for the 2014 Derby. The prior year, the CashCall Futurity offered 10 points to the winner.

Shared Belief has worked three times since the CashCall Futurity, most recently Jan. 3, when he went five furlongs in 1:00.40.

The Eclipse Award winners will be announced Saturday night at Gulfstream Park. Shared Belief is a finalist for champion male 2-year-old along with Havana and New Year’s Day.