DEL MAR, Calif. – Remember when field size for 3-year-old dirt stakes dwindled to just 4.6 runners per race this winter and spring in California?
Seasons change, but field size struggles continue in summer. The $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes, for 3-year-olds at a mile on dirt, attracted only five entrants Sunday at Del Mar. It’s standard fare. The biggest field for an open 3-year-old dirt stakes this year in California is five runners.
Citizen Bull, the 2024 champion juvenile male and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, tops the Shared Belief. He is trained by Bob Baffert, who has three-fifths of the field. Baffert also entered Grade 1 winner Gaming and allowance winner Privman in the Shared Belief, race 2 on an 11-race card that includes the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, race 9.
After winning four of his first five starts, Citizen Bull hit on hard times as distances increased. He set the pace and backed up in the Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby, finishing fourth and 15th, respectively. After a flat fourth in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Woody Stephens on June 1 at Saratoga, the message was clear.
“He needed a freshening,” Baffert said. “I don’t think he brought his A game.”
But in recent weeks, Citizen Bull has picked up his game in morning workouts. Sunday, Baffert expects the front-runner to use his weapon – speed – without worrying about distance. A mile and one-eighth was too far in the Santa Anita Derby, 1 1/4 miles too far in the Kentucky Derby.
“I think I trained all the speed out of him getting ready for” longer races, Baffert said. “I got it back, though.”
If Citizen Bull has regained his speed, the mile distance of the Shared Belief should be just right. Citizen Bull drew post 5 under Juan Hernandez and figures for a front-running or pace-pressing trip on the track where he won his career debut last summer and the BC Juvenile last fall.
Gaming, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and runner-up in the BC Juvenile, reemerged this year. He was second in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park and third in the Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs, then wired the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in his most recent start on June 8.
Hector Berrios rides Gaming, who faced only three rivals in the Affirmed. Two won their next start. The runner-up, Nevada Beach, subsequently won the Los Alamitos Derby by more than four lengths; fourth-place finisher Westwood won a Del Mar maiden race by more than three.
Privman would enter with the highest last-start figure, a 97 Beyer Speed Figure earned winning an entry-level allowance. The win was his second of the meet, after a decisive maiden score. The Shared Belief would be his third start of summer, which is atypical for Baffert. He rarely starts horses more than twice at the summer meet.
Smooth Cruisein stretches out from a pair of graded sprints against older and could influence the pace. His route ability is uncertain. The fifth entrant, Brother Brother, finished off the board in a maiden-50 last out.
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