Watchmaker: Shared Belief was always brilliant, often unlucky

Like everyone else, I was gutted when I learned of the passing last Thursday of Shared Belief. And I think one of the reasons why his loss stung so much is you have to go back many, many years to find a horse who was even remotely as brilliant, accomplished, and brutally unlucky, all at the same time.

It’s almost as if Shared Belief’s star-crossed life made it easier for us flawed humans to relate and become more deeply attached to him.

Shared Belief was the undefeated champion 2-year-old of 2013, and with the way he finally did return at 3 (seriously, how awesome was his victory over older opponents in the 2014 Pacific Classic?), who knows, he might have been the one that broke the long Triple Crown drought. If only he had the opportunity. An unlucky injury early in 2014 prevented Shared Belief from running in any of the Triple Crown races.

Nevertheless, Shared Belief returned for the second half of his 3-year-old season on such a mission that he stood on the brink of becoming Horse of the Year of 2014 with a characteristic performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But horrendous luck surfaced again when Shared Belief was wiped out at the start, a victim of unpunished interference that prevented him from performing to his capabilities that day.

Undaunted, Shared Belief returned early this year to decisively beat Horse of the Year California Chrome in the San Antonio and run away with the Big Cap. But misfortune surfaced once again when Shared Belief suffered a hip injury in the Charles Town Classic that knocked him out for the rest of the year.

Thanks to American Pharoah, we had an unforgettable 2015. But can you imagine how incredible this season might have been if Shared Belief weren’t injured in West Virginia? Can you imagine the showdown we might have had in the Breeders’ Cup Classic?

Knowing that Shared Belief was on his way back for a 2016 campaign was more than just some consolation. Fans of his, of which I was one, felt he was more than capable to fill the void left by the retirement of American Pharoah. Shared Belief was going to have a monster 5-year-old campaign.

But now this. And it’s going to hurt for a while.

** I think the North American Graded Stakes system is worthwhile and useful. And generally, I don’t take great issue with the annual tweaks made to which races get what grade. But there were two howlers on the 2016 graded stakes list released last week that should not escape note.

It is mind boggling to me that the Pennsylvania Derby was left at its Grade 2 ranking and not elevated to Grade 1 status. Each of the last three winners of the Pennsylvania Derby were Grade 1 winners before running in the Pennsylvania Derby. There is not a more compelling reason to elevate a race from Grade 2 to Grade 1 status than that.

I also do not understand how the Fair Grounds Oaks remains a Grade 2 event. That race has consistently proven to be on a level with such other early season 3-year-old filly stakes as the Ashland and Santa Anita Oaks, which are Grade 1 races. And even stranger, the local prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks, the Rachel Alexandra, was elevated to Grade 2 status. It makes no sense to me that the prep for the main goal is in graded stakes terms now considered the equal of the main goal. Weirder still is that the graded stakes committee addressed this specific matter when it downgraded the Las Virgenes, a local stepping stone to the Santa Anita Oaks, from Grade 1 to Grade 2 status.

** When Songbird won the Chandelier and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, she ran faster than males did in the FrontRunner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the same cards. And when Carina Mia won the Golden Rod, she ran faster than 2-year-old males did in the Kentucky Jockey Club on the same card.
Well, you can add Cathryn Sophia to the list of 2-year-old fillies who won stakes in faster time than their male counterparts on the same day. Cathryn Sophia still has some work to do before she can be mentioned in the same breath with Songbird and Carina Mia. However, Cathryn Sophia is another very exciting juvenile filly prospect in a year rich with them.

Cathryn Sophia won her debut at Parx on Breeders’ Cup Friday by almost 13 lengths in a time fast enough for a heady 92 Beyer Speed Figure. On Saturday, she proved that performance was no fluke with a most impressive score in the Gin Talking Stakes at Laurel. Cathryn Sophia again went right to the lead and drew off under a pull to score by more than 16 lengths. She covered seven furlongs in 1:23.17, earning a Beyer of 93 that certainly would have been higher if she had been allowed to run at all. And still, her time was a lopsided 1.46 seconds faster than 2-year-old males went in a driving finish in the Marylander Stakes just two races later.