Shared Belief begins light exercise toward comeback

DEL MAR, Calif. – Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, has started a light exercise program of walking at the Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center in Redmond, Wash., the first stage in a planned comeback after injuring his hip in the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Shared Belief is walking a couple of times a day and is being exercised on an AquaCiser, which allows him to walk underwater.

“He seems to be coming along well,” Hollendorfer said Thursday.

When Shared Belief was sidelined, Hollendorfer said there were no plans to race the 4-year-old gelding again in 2015. Hollendorfer said Shared Belief might start jogging at Pegasus under the direction of trainer Mike Puhich before being sent to California.

“No one is putting any pressure on me at all,” Hollendorfer said. “When it looks right, we’ll start training him again. Mike may jog him for a while up there.”

Owned by a partnership that includes television sports commentator Jim Rome, Shared Belief was pulled up in the Charles Town Classic. Shared Belief won the San Antonio Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year and was expected to play a leading role in the older horse division.