Shared Belief
 

I was a little surprised he didn't have his own thread, yet.

I did a blog post on him today, covering him, his brilliant Hollywood Futurity win, and the speed figure questions surrounding the race.

http://www.horseracingnation.com/blo...red_Belief_123

Considering the realities of modern two-year-old racing (very lightly raced, prone to setbacks, etc) I think this years crop has an unexpectedly high number of top quality prospects going into the New Year.

He is a synthetic specialist, get that through your head.

I am not sure on what makes you an expert on what 2yr old is a synthetic specialist....but that 2 yr old ran his lights out....until proven otherwise, I will be rooting for him to be the next great one.....

I think people are mostly speaking as bettors, not fans. He'll be 2 to 5 or so next time.

Perfect horse to try to beat next time out. If he romps, just sit back and enjoy the show.

Afternoon Deelites is a poor comparison.

i'll withold judgement til he runs on a track other than synthetic. some horses aren't limited to one surface. we'll see.

personally, i'm hoping his form translates to dirt and/or turf.

I suppose most did not see my comments in the Cashcall thread, my response in this one was completely tongue and cheek.

i know i don't read every thread in every room, so i certainly missed it.

Someone there said this horse should not even be considered a Derby contender at this point since he has not run on dirt, I thought that to be a bit ridiculous.

i agree.
it's the best part of the derby, the months leading up and watching the youngsters shake things out.

Yeah early on that would've discounted Barbaro, Big Brown, and Animal Kingdom. (I went to double check the surfaces of Barbaro's earliest races and couldn't help but see the DNF first thing on Equibase. Ugh, always a punch to the gut.) I'm almost glad that some of them start out winning on things like turf because you know they can run on it and if they take off on dirt the option of going back to their other surface is there. They might not take the risk sometimes of trying turf later if they don't have to.

since when ?

ah, now that's better. should have done that sooner.

Certainly does not have the running style of a synthetic specialist. In fact, usually horses that have his running style on synthetics move up on dirt.

Gypsy Robin is a speed demon, and she fares much better on synthetic.

So your point is that in general the statement was wrong?

Mr. Speaker fits this mold and it will be interesting to see where Shug will decide to go with him next (Holy Bull or Fountain of Youth). His barn is loaded with potential Derby types, so he has the option of keeping him on the grass and point to the G3 Palm Beach on March 1st. Shug is in pretty good position.

As for Shared Belief, he deserves his own blog according to the criteria the last few years. I love his action and feel it will translate well to dirt.

true.

what i don't like about their plans with shared belief is only two starts before the derby. it's too bad that this has become the rule, not the exception.

Here is the champ last week at GGF.

He's not the one in blue.

Thanks to Janet Hollendorfer for the gracious access.

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