Sham Stakes Preview

  The Santa Anita's Derby trail kicks off tomorrow with the Sham Stakes. The G3 mile race has yet to produce a KY Derby winner, but some nice horses have won this race. Among the winners include Colonel John, The Pamplemousse and recent BC Dirt Mile winner Tapizar. Let's take a look at this years field.

 Santa Anita Park - Saturday, January 5, 2013 Race 3 - 1:31 PM     

STAKES

Sham S. (Grade III)

Purse $100,000. For Three-Year-Olds . By subscription of $100 each to accompany the nomination closed with 0. $1,500 additional to start, with $100,000 guaranteed. The winner to receive $60,000 PLUS 10 KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS, $20,000 to second, $12,000 to third, $6,000 to fourth and $2,000 to fifth. 123 Lbs. Non-winners of a Graded I or Grade II Stakes at One Mile or Over, allowed 3 Lbs. Non-winners of a Graded Stake at One Mile or Over , 5 Lbs. *Early Bird nominees to the 2013 Santa Anita Derby (Closing Date: December 22, 2012) are automatically eligible to the Sham Stakes with all fees waived. A trophy will be presented to the owner of the winner. One Mile.

PP Horse                  A/S Med   Jockey         Wgt Trainer

1 Den's Legacy (FL) 3/C L G K Gomez 120 B Baffert

2 Goldencents (KY) 3/C L K Krigger 120 D F O'Neill

3 Greeley Awesome (KY) 3/C L M Gutierrez 118 D F O'Neill

4 Dry Summer (KY) 3/R J Talamo         118 J Mullins

5 Dirty Swagg (KY) 3/R L T Baze         118 M K Cho

6 Manando (KY) 3/C L M Garcia         118 B Baffert

Going horse by horse.

Den's Legacy (Medaglia d'Oro): Third in the G1 Cash Call Futurity in his last race. Before that he won the G3 Generous on turf. Lone start on dirt was a fifth place finish in the G1 Front Runner.

Goldencents (Into Mischief): Won the G3 Delta Jackpot and 2nd in the G1 Champagne in his last two. Sire is a 1/2 brother to BC Juvenile Fillies winner Beholder.

Greeley Awesome  (Mr. Greeley): Broke maiden in his last. Makes stakes debut and was 2nd in one other try on dirt. 

Dry Summer (Any Given Saturday): Stakes winner on turf, lone dirt try was a 8th place finish in the Front Runner.

Dirty Swagg (Street Hero): Third in the Real Quiet two back, has finished out of the top three in stakes races other then that. 

Manando (Bluegrass Cat): Makes stakes debut, 3rd in lone dirt try.

So who wins? In theory, Goldencents has the best resume at this point. However, I'm going with Den's Legacy. His sire's foals tend to improve at 3 and him losing the CashCall might have been the best thing to happen to him. Goldencents for second and   Greeley Awesome for third.