Shared Belief big favorite in Santa Anita Handicap

Four weeks ago we had a great summit among Shared Belief, Horse of the Year California Chrome and Hoppertunity in the San Antonio at Santa Anita Park. The winner, Shared Belief, is the only one of those three to continue on to Saturday’s $1 million Santa Anita Handicap.

California Chrome will race next in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 28 while Hoppertunity may join him.

Shared Belief will be very short odds to win the Big Cap first prize of $600,000. Of interest is that 12 others are even brave enough to face him.

The way I read it is if you just give the winner’s share of $600,000 to Shared Belief, the other 12 are now in their own private $400,000 stakes race. That’s still a fine payday.

Shared Belief is a 4-year-old gelding. So as long as he remains healthy and fast, we’ll be enjoying his career for a long time. He could be this generation’s Cigar, who retired in 1996 a few shekels short of $10 million in lifetime earnings.

In the future, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer may also try the Dubai World Cup with Shared Belief. That’s because $10 million purses are few and far between. The $6 million winner’s share would cut into Cigar’s lead pretty quickly.

Meanwhile on the Kentucky Derby trail, there are three major prep races Saturday with the Gotham at Aqueduct, the Tampa Bay Derby and the San Felipe at Santa Anita. Each winner will earn 50 points, which in past years has been enough to make the Derby starting gate.

El Kabeir (8-5) was second best in the Withers at 1-2 odds. He’ll be happy to know the horse that beat him, Far From Over, is bypassing the race to train up to the Wood Memorial, also at Aqueduct.

There are a lot of untested animals in the Gotham, plus 3-year-olds this time of year can improve a lot and very quickly. Two I would take a look at are Classy Class (7-2) and Lieutenant Colonel (5-1).

The Tampa Bay Derby features the season debut of Carpe Diem (8-5), who ran second to Texas Red in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. I doubt if he’ll be wound tight, but he could win on natural talent alone.

Ocean Knight (2-1) will garner much support off a win in the Sam F. Davis, but my sleeper horse will be Souper Colossal (6-1). I expect jockey Joel Rosario to put Souper Colossal on the lead and take this field as far as he can.

The San Felipe appears to have the overall strongest field. Two unbeaten colts in Dortmund and Ocho Ocho Ocho head this group, but it is deep in talent.

Lord Nelson, The Gomper, Prospect Park and Bolo all should be considered strong challengers. I withhold judgment as the race is that difficult.

■ SATURDAY STAKES PREVIEW — The Daily Racing Form is launching a new weekly publication called Saturday Stakes Preview. It will make available on Thursday morning the past performances for most Saturday stakes. If you prefer quality over quantity, this edition is for you.

■ ORLEANS QUALIFIER — The Orleans will host a Horseplayer World Series qualifier Saturday. The entry fee is $300. The top five finishers will earn cash prizes plus a free entry into the HWS worth $1,000.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.