2017 Sham Stakes: Next Stop on the Road to the Derby
Ten points are up for grabs in the Sham Stakes on the Saturday card at Santa Anita.
I went back to check the past performances of the previous 10 winners of the Kentucky Derby to see if any of them had won the Sham as one of their Derby preps and found that none of them had.
Santa Anita Race #7: Grade-3 Sham, 3 year olds, 1 mile (dirt), $100K
The first thing I noticed when I started looking at the PPs for the Sham is that Baffert was 0 for 12 at the meet at the time of publishing.
Baffert trained American Anthem is Sham Stakes Favorite
About this time two years ago, Baffert had another horse on the Road to the Kentucky Derby that was making waves on the west coast as a two year old contender for the Roses.
Like American Anthem, American Pharoah had started his career at Del Mar but with different results.
‘Pharoah’ lost his opener finishing 5th in a 6 1/2 furlong MSW sprint. But note that that race was run on synthetic and he did return to win the G1 Del Mar Futurity next time out on the all-weather in the last season for that surface at Del Mar.
Of course, he went on to win his next seven races and become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
On the contrary, ‘Anthem’ broke his maiden at first asking a little over a month ago in a MSW going 6 at Del Mar.
And it’s obvious that at this point there’s no comparison between the two Baffert trained ‘American’ horses yet.
4 of last 5 Kentucky Derby Winners Prepped in California
It’s worth noting that 4 of the last 5 Derby winners began their career in California.
Two of which, I’ll Have Another (2012) and Nyquist (2016), were trained by Doug O’Neill for Reddam Racing LLC.
O’Neill has two entered for the Sham. Reddam Racing’s Blabimir (12 to 1) and Calumet Farm’s Term of Art (5 to 1).
Gormley, Second Choice in Sham Stakes
The Sham Stakes as a Derby prep hasn’t shown up on the charts of the past 5 Kentucky Derby winners. Maybe this year will be different.
Currently, Classic Empire sits atop the leader board with 30 points.
If Gormley wins he’ll add 10 points to his total which will put him in second with 20.
But if either the Baffert trainee American Anthem wins or one of the two O’Neill runners does, the 10 points will put them in a eight way tie for third.
So while the Sham may not be a major indicator of Derby readiness, ten points is ten points when you’re trying to be in the top 20 on the Derby leader board come Derby day.
