Shared Belief targets Malibu Stakes

Wet conditions in Northern California delayed a scheduled workout for Shared Belief at Golden Gate Fields on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the weather has not affected trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s plans in coming weeks for the champion 2-year-old male of 2013.

Hollendorfer said Wednesday that he intends to run Shared Belief in the $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds over seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. The Grade 1 Malibu is part of the opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.

“I think that’s what I’ll do right now,” Hollendorfer said.

Shared Belief has not raced since finishing a troubled fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Shared Belief was bumped hard by eventual winner Bayern shortly after the start and was beaten 3 3/4 lengths. The bumping incident was the subject of a lengthy stewards’ inquiry, but the order of finish was not changed.

Owned by a partnership that includes television sportscaster Jim Rome, Shared Belief has won 7 of 8 starts and earned $1,852,200. A start in the Malibu would be Shared Belief’s first appearance in a sprint race since a win in a six-furlong allowance race at Golden Gate Fields in May, the gelding’s first start of 2014.

When Shared Belief does work this week, it will be his third workout since the BC Classic. He worked three furlongs on Nov. 18 and a half-mile on Nov. 25, both at Golden Gate Fields. Hollendorfer said rainy conditions at Golden Gate Fields in recent days gave him a reason to postpone the workout.

“The track was probably okay and I breezed a couple of horses,” Hollendorfer said. “I wasn’t entirely happy with the track. We’ve had rain and the whole state needs it.”

Most of the state of California is suffering through an extreme drought.