At least he is still running

yeah, and if it keeps up Candy Ride could soon be a fashionable sire.

You speak like you know the trainer, this isn't some allowance horse. He was 2yr old champ, right? Now they might skip the prestigious Los Al Derby? Whats the excuse for that?

Actually i do know him personally, and do have communication with him occasionally. But not in this situation. I have no idea what he is thinking with Shared Belief. I'm sure he has a good plan for the horse. I'm sure his ultimate goal is the Breeders Cup. I know you feel he owes the racing public grade 1 races right now, but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit...

He's a gelding. What's the point?

I'd give him a race later this summer, one in the fall and point to the BC dirt mile. They can be much more aggressive next year knowing more about his ability to run on dirt and go long.

I think Hollendorfer has it under control..lol

Los Al added a $1 million bonus if shared belief wins the Pacific and bc classic.

It's too bad he can't handle dirt.

Pacific Classic next.

I would like to see him stay on dirt, as I think the Del Mar surface is an abomination that is especially ill suited for a horse that runs with Shared Beliefs style.

I've never been a fan of synthetic racing surfaces, but the cushion track at least played fairly similar to dirt, which was one of the two reasons I had no doubt Shared Belief would like dirt racing.

I'd hope Dorf gets some work with him over the track, but hell, that terrible surface has seen many horses work great over it in the mornings only to see them unable to run a step in the afternoon.

I'd just as soon see him go in one of the Arlington turf races, over anything at Del Mar.

I don't know what the track will be like this year at Del Mar. I thought last year was a definite abomination. There was actually a fairly big speed bias there last year. The track isn't usually like that. It usually plays like your typical synthetic track. Turf horses usually like it. Acclamation who is a grass horse won the Pacific Classic in 2011. Synthetic horses usually like it. Dullahan, who didn't seem to run really well on anything but synthetic (he won the Blue Grass at Keeneland), won the Pacific Classic. I don't see any reason why Shared Belief wouldn't love Del Mar. He ran great at Golden Gate in both of his races there. He ran great at Hollywood Park which was really a track that played half way in between a dirt and synthetic track.

Shared Belief looks like he can run on anything. So far he's run on 3 different tracks and he's undefeated. No matter how Del Mar plays this year, I would bet that Shared Belief has no problem with the track. He seems like a pretty adaptable type of horse. The handicap division on the west coast is terrible right now. I would definitely make Shared Belief the favorite for the Pacific Classic even though I rarely like 3 year olds in there.

I didn't follow Del Mar last year and don't know anything about it being speed favoring.

Poly, Tapeta and Cushion are quite different from each other. Cushion plays the most like dirt.

His wins at Golden Gate were against such vastly inferior competition that I think those two races are pretty useless for evaporating him fairly.

I do think it's likely he'd win the Pacific Classic, but in my estimation, he is the most vulnerable in that spot.

Million dollar bonus is big as he is a gelding right? They arent shipping east for the Travers when they can ship to Delmar for same money. Who is going to beat him in Pac? Game on Dude loose on lead?

You miss my point.

Clearly he's the best horse aiming for the race.

I have my concerns that that racing surface is anti conducive to him running his optimal race.

I think the bonus, while nice, is of secondary value. The purse money from the three races is much greater than the bonus.

I'd guesstimate first place prize money from all three races to be around $3.9 million.

I am not sure he can run down a loose on the lead GOD, Hollendorfer will probably enter a rabbit again.

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to believe GOD might be pretty tough in there. If loose, that is.

This really does have to be the worst reasonable spot for him.

He would be. And for you to say Shared Belief is the best horse pointing to race is pure comedy. GOD has won multiple G1's and a good 2nd in a BC Classic. The other horse has won a very soft Juvy G1. I dont think Shared Belief will ever in his life run a race like GOD Big Cap this year.

I think he's a really nice horse but am getting very confused by the whole second coming tone going on in this thread.

I'm wondering who else is pointing to the Pacific Classic (aside from the other GoD horse) and am already kind of feeling bad for him cause the whole disappointment turning into disgust, stick-a-fork-in-him mentality is, I fear, a real possibility. (No disrespect meant... I just think your expectations might be a tad too high).

Not to sound like a complete idiot but is California Chrome going to the Pacific Classic?

I'm thinking that Game on Dude is done. If he runs one of his freak type of races, he may win easily. But I don't see that happening.

From what I've read, the PAC classic isn't the plan. Los Al supposedly going to write a race for him as a BC prep.

Thats possible.

I read where they might gallop him before the crowd but that's pretty much it for his Del Mar appearance.

As Arletta said, CC is not running in the Pacific Classic. He's not even in training right now. They sent him out to the farm for a rest. I believe their plan is to prep in the Goodwood (which is usually around Oct. 1st) and then run him in the BC Classic. CC obviously loved the old Santa Anita track, but there will be a new surface at SA come October. CC seemed to run fine on every track but he was most dominant at Santa Anita. I think he was at least a couple lengths better at Santa Anita than other tracks. He probably won't have that same advantage on the new surface.

Except when he wasn't.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-toward-return

this is where i read they will run once at los al, in a race they're going to write for him, as a prep for the bc.

He also might have been just putting it all together during the Winter/Spring meet.

I doubt if he loses in the Pacific Classic I'll be moaning about him being done.

I would not be surprised at all if he burns at Del Mar. That race is going to be the best spot to play against him, in my estimation.

Coming back out of that race though, provided he runs on dirt, he'd be real real tough.

My expectations for him? I think he's the most talented horse we've seen at least since Barbaro. I also think he's susceptible to all sorts of problems. Therefore, I really don't have any expectations for him other than to win almost any race he goes into, provided he's sound going in.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Your post gives me hope that he'll stay sound and be around a lot longer than I'd thought.

Game on Dude, historically speaking, is a tremendously overrated horse.

He's a one dimensional horse who's had the luxury of coming along at a time when the handicap division has been pretty weak.

Commentator would have crushed this horse.

Aren't they pretty much the same horse running routes? I think if both ran in the same race neither one is close to winning as long as there were other breathing horses running in the same race. Who's overrating Game On Dude? He is what he is. I don't think anyone is calling him an all time great or anything.

Yes, they run the same way. Commentator and GoD are much alike.

However, I'll take the former as a higher quality any day. I wasn't even a big fan of his.

Who's overrating GoD? PG95, that's who.

Yup....the main reason his post was not particularly clever.

I agree with one thing in that post. Commentator is one of the GOAT.

I don't overrate him. He is what he is. You overrated Belief I just pointed out GOD is much more accomplished. I mean hell Eskendereyas 3yr old races would crush Shared Belief.

I agree that CC was getting really good in the winter/spring. But were his races at Churchill and Pimlico as good as his races at Santa Anita? You can look at it a few ways. On the one hand, you could say that his races were just as good if not better in the TC races because he faced much better horses. But did he really? Even if there were some decent horses in the Derby and Preakness, did any of them fire? Commanding Curve and Ride on Curlin were the horses that ran 2nd. CC only won those races by 1 1/2- 2 lengths. I would argue that with identical race dynamics, CC can beat Commanding Curve and Ride on Curlin by bigger margins at Santa Anita.

And if you want to look at speed figures, CC ran faster at SA than he did at CD or Pimlico.

While it's nearly impossible to rank the list of all time greatest idiotic things you've ever said, this would have to be up there.

what sayeth thou to that slander, Rockhead 10 ?

No not really. And hopefully someone else well chime in. But Eskendereya ran a monstrous race in the Wood demolishing a pretty solid Jackson Bend. Duel G1 placed I believe, and I know he won at least 1 G1.

Does Jim Rome know how invaluable a service you are providing him?

So I'm right and you respond like this. Its fine, its expected. I mean you can't argue anything I'm saying anyway. Eskendereya dominated major Derby preps. Shared Belief won an allowance at GG and a race at ultra prestigious Los Amigos.

Fairly recent horses who will NEVER be mentioned among the GREATEST OF ALL TIME who were better than Commentator(everyone else feel free to add to this list as it is off the top of my head):

In no particular order
1. MDO
2. Invasor
3. Pleasantly Perfect
4. Mineshaft
5. Congaree
6. Lava Man(yep, i said it)
7. Perfect Drift
8. St. Liam
9. Candy Ride
10. Curlin
11. Roses in May
12. Game on Dude
13. ETC

I didn't realize there was going to be a race for him at Los Al. That gives them a good option. Off the layoff, they may want to come back in a one mile race, rather than a 1 1/8 mile race. It will probably be a much easier field too.