Citizen Bull © Benoit Photo
SF Racing, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables, et al’s Citizen Bull, 2024’s 2-year-old champion, earned a nice paycheck for a one mile workout Sunday at Del Mar as he went to the front early, then just coasted along to a five and a half length victory in the 51st edition of the Shared Belief Stakes.
The stakes, originally drawn with five runners, only wound up with three after morning scratches and trainer Bob Baffert and rider Juan Hernandez won it as easy as breaking sticks. Final time for the “race” was 1:35.12.
The purse for the test was $125,000 and Citizen Bull earned $75,000 of it. He now has winnings of $1,556,100, including a score in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last November. He’s won five of nine starts overall.
Finishing second in the “Belief” was Matson Racing, Brown and Naify’s Smooth Cruisein, who had nine lengths on third-pace finisher Gaming, owned by Pegram, Watson and Weitman.
The winner, off at 2/5, returned $2.80 for a $2 bet.
JUAN HERNANDEZ (Citizen Bull, winner) -- “He’s a good horse. He broke well out of the gate. He gave me speed at the three-quarter pole and that was it. When he recovers well from this race, I think he can go anywhere.”
BOB BAFFERT (Citizen Bull, winner) – “He was back to a distance he really loves. The Breeders’ Cup Mile is probably where we will be pointing. We were trying to get him back to form after what he went through. I told Juan (Hernandez) ‘Come back with bugs on your teeth.’ It was good to see him put on a show today. You saw the champion Citizen Bull today.”
FRACTIONS: :22.39 :45.88 1:09.96 1:22.22 1:35.12
The stakes win was the eighth of the meeting for rider Hernandez and his third straight in the Shared Belief. He now has 60 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the fifth of the meeting for trainer Baffert and his 13th in the Shared Belief. He now has 183 stakes wins at Del Mar, far and away the most of any trainer.
The winning owners are an extended partnership headed by SF Racing of Gavin Murphy of Lexington, KY.