Desert Gate © Benoit Photo
Desert Gate returns to the races Sunday as the morning line favorite in the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. The son of Omaha Beach was a major player in the 2-year-old division at Del Mar last year, winning the G3 Best Pal Stakes before running second to stablemate Brant in the G1 Del Mar Futurity.
He went up to Santa Anita and won the G1 American Pharoah, the west coast prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But there would be no Breeders’ Cup for Desert Gate in 2025. A week before the race he developed an infection on his hock and was withdrawn from the race.
He made his 2026 / 3-year-old debut in the G3 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita in February and finished fourth at which point Baffert decided to take his colt out of town. It was just what the doctor ordered. They landed at Oaklawn Park and promptly won the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes by 9 ¾ lengths. He followed that victory with a win in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park where he won by 6 ¼ lengths.
That’s why he was the odds-on favorite to win the G3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown in June but instead ran a disappointing fourth. He didn’t fare much better in the $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows a month later where he also ran fourth.
Baffert brought Desert Gate back to Southern California, gave him a two-month freshening and entered him in the Shared Belief where seven other 3-year-olds will be waiting to take a shot.
One of those is Ocean Bear, winner of last fall’s $175,000 Golden State Juvenile Stakes on Breeders’ Cup Friday. It was the son of Bolt d’Oro’s third straight score after breaking his maiden at Del Mar in September and then winning an entry-level allowance race at Santa Anita in October.
He’s only run once this year in the $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar in July.
“He ran good,” trainer George Papaprodromou stated. “He was coming off a layoff and was a good third. He had been good up to that. He’s more mature now. This is a tough race and it’s his first time going long so we’ll see how it goes.”
Ocean Bear was a head better than the fourth-place finisher in the Real Good Deal. That was Start the Ride, who also returns in the Shared Belief. The son of Upstart was runner-up in the $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby in June followed by his run in the Real Good Deal Stakes.
“It was just too short for him,” trainer Dan Blacker insists. “The track was very speed favoring. He’s more of a two-turn horse so the track bias was playing against him. He ran well; he just needs more distance.”
Another contender is Ahrens, a strapping colt by Modernist who won an entry level allowance race at Del Mar last out. It was his second victory in a row and his third in four starts for trainer John Sadler.
The Shared Belief, named after the popular 2014 Pacific Classic winner who also won the G1 Malibu and the G1 Santa Anita Handicap, is Race 8 on the 11-race Sunday card. Probable post time is 5 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: One More Freud (Mike Smith, 12-1); Start the Ride (Kazushi Kimura, 12-1); Desert Gate (Juan Hernandez, 9/5); Essos (Joel Rosario, 5-1); Decisive Win (Antonio Fresu, 3-1); Mo Koko (Victor Espinoza, 20-1); Ocean Bear (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1), and Ahrens (Hector I. Berrios, 7/2).