Sharing stands out but faces questions in American Oaks

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beyond escape from frigid East Coast weather, Maryland-based Sharing has returned to sunnier climes with an added geographical incentive – California happens to be the scene of her greatest achievements.

Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2019 at Santa Anita, and fresh off the fastest race of her career last month at Del Mar, Sharing is favored in the Grade 1 American Oaks, at 1 1/4 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Santa Anita.

Based on class, Sharing is a slam dunk in the $300,000 American Oaks, race 9. She has won 5 of 8, earned more than $1 million, and has never run a bad race, including a fourth last out in the Grade 1 Matriarch.

“I thought she might have run one of her toughest races,” trainer Graham Motion said, and he is correct. Sharing was facing older for the first time, was forwardly placed chasing a fast pace, and missed by three-quarters of a length with a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Did she run too fast? Can she maintain form after shipping back and forth from the East Coast? Can she stay 1 1/4 miles? These are all questions Motion hopes Sharing can answer when she drops into the age-restricted American Oaks.

:: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more.

“I guess if I had one reservation about this race, it concerns me a little bit coming back out of such a big effort where she ran so hard, and now having to travel,” Motion said. “But having said all that, she really took her race well.”

Sharing faces nine rivals in the American Oaks, which is three-sixteenths farther than the longest race of her career. Although her main rivals are less accomplished, several are either proven at the distance, or have indicated they want the trip.

Luck Money defeated older last out racing 1 1/2 miles at Belmont; she arrived from Florida early this week. Locally based Going to Vegas finished second against older last out in the marathon Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap. East Coast-based upset candidate Capital Structure acts like she wants the distance and has targeted the American Oaks for months.

The other entrants are Red Lark and California Kook, one-two finishers in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks; Duopoly, a stakes winner expected to set or press the pace; and longshots Miss Addie Pray and Neige Blanche.

Sharing has started four times this year, including a runner-up finish in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes in June at Royal Ascot, a win in the Grade 2 Edgewood at Churchill Downs, and the Matriarch. Travel is second nature for Sharing.

“She is an easy-going, well-travelled, well-seasoned filly,” Motion said, adding that Sharing has a temperament similar to that of her dam, 2010 BC Filly and Mare winner Shared Account.

“They’re the kindest, most generous fillies I’ve been around,” Motion said.

John Velazquez subs Saturday for Manny Franco on Sharing.

Capital Structure is unseasoned, with two wins from only three starts.

“She’s a late bloomer,” trainer Chad Brown said. “We always thought a lot of her, but it took a while to get her there. After her first race, I was really thinking about running at a mile and a quarter.”

Based on her stride and finish, Capital Structure should relish the distance. The challenge is class – all she did last out was win an entry-level allowance. Joel Rosario rides Capital Structure; he and Brown are 7 for 10 in graded stakes races on turf in California.

Brown also starts listed winner Duopoly; her upfront style is the opposite of her stablemate’s.

“The distance is a big question mark” for Duopoly, Brown said. “Our thinking was we’d be represented in both halves of the field.”

Flavien Prat rides Duopoly.

Luck Money has improved since trainer Arnaud Delacour stretched her to 1 1/8 miles and beyond in her last three starts. Ricardo Santana Jr. takes over.

Delacour said Luck Money’s Grade 1-winning stablemate Magic Attitude, also a 3-year-old turf filly, recently resumed light training and could return March 6 in the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Going to Vegas was the only 3-year-old in the 1 3/8-mile Red Carpet, and she missed by only a half-length.

“I ran her there because the American Oaks was coming up,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “If she can do a mile and three-eighths, then she can do a mile and quarter, right?”

Going to Vegas already has turned out to be a fantastic $50,000 claim. Though she is winless in five starts for her new owners, Going to Vegas placed in two graded stakes and has earned $58,740 since the claim. Mario Gutierrez rides Going to Vegas. Baltas won the American Oaks in 2015 with Spanish Queen and 2019 with Lady Prancealot.