Few Pretenders in Sham Stakes

For a race that has only a $100,000 purse and is ungraded, the Sham Stakes, which will be run today at Santa Anita before the day’s main event, the $300,000 Strub Stakes, has had an effect on the Triple Crown.

In its first five runnings, the Sham, at 1 1/8 miles, has featured two runners who went on to win a Triple Crown race.

Giacomo, who will make his first start of 2006 in the Strub, finished third behind Going Wild and Papi Chullo in last year’s Sham before shocking the world at 50-1 months later in the Kentucky Derby.

Empire Maker, who spoiled Funny Cide’s bid for a Triple Crown sweep with a win over a sloppy track in the Belmont Stakes in 2003, finished second to Man Among Men in the Sham earlier that year.

Whether any of the six scheduled to run in today’s Sham goes on to success in Louisville, Baltimore or New York this spring remains to be seen, but the race does feature some promising 3-year-olds.

Bob Baffert, who won the inaugural Sham with Wild And Wise, will send out Bob And John, and Sky Diving.

Owned by breeders Bob and Janice McNair’s Stonerside Stable, Bob And John, a son of Seeking The Gold, is the far more accomplished of the two colts. He has won two of six and lost a third victory in the Real Quiet when he was disqualified on a controversial call after crossing the wire six lengths ahead of the runner-up.

Worse than third only once in his career, Bob And John is being wheeled back two weeks after winning an allowance race by three lengths as the 7-10 favorite.

Sky Diving, a son of Aptitude owned by B. Wayne Hughes, needed a trip to Bay Meadows to break his maiden. After failing in his first three races at Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita, the $310,000 2-year-old purchase won by 14 lengths Jan. 25. He had to survive a stewards’ inquiry that day after he ducked in at the start and crowded all those drawn directly inside of him.

The field for the Sham, the third race on the card, is completed by Hawkinsville, Woody Be Quick, Genre and Sacred Light.

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First Samurai, the individual favorite when betting closed in the first Kentucky Derby future book last weekend, will make his first start as a 3-year-old in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes today at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The 7 1/2 -furlong Hutcheson is one of several graded stakes on the Gulfstream program, the richest of which is the $500,000 Donn Handicap.

Trained by Frank Brothers for owners Bruce Lunsford and Lansdon Robbins III, First Samurai won four of five last year but was defeated in his most recent start, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He finished third behind Stevie Wonderboy and Henny Hughes last Oct. 29 at Belmont.

A winner of two Grade I races before his lone defeat, First Samurai will be ridden by Edgar Prado, who takes over for the retired Jerry Bailey.

“He’s a big, strong colt and we just have to hope he continues to develop,” Brothers said recently.

“Any young horse has to improve going from 2 to 3. He is like the rest of them in that you expect him to mature, but the good ones improve and the ones that aren’t so good just stay the same.”

Prado also has the call on Suave in the 1 1/8 -mile Donn, which also lured Magna Graduate, Super Frolic and six others.

The other important 3-year-old race in Florida is the $150,000 Holy Bull Stakes, which will mark the main-track debut of the unbeaten Barbaro.

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Buckland Manor, second to High Limit in the San Pasqual Handicap on Jan. 7, is the 116-pound high weight for the $250,000 San Antonio Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita.

Owned by Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan and trained by Paco Gonzalez, Buckland Manor will break from the outside in the field of nine in the 1 1/8 -mile race, the final major prep for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 4.