The Sham Stakes, the next stop on the online horse race gambling 2017 Road to the Kentucky Derby (RTTKD), will take place on Saturday, January 7th at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Gormley is the favorite of people who bet on horse races to win this race, but the field will be filled with six other horses who will do their best to win the 10 RTTKD points awarded to the first place – or, failing that, the four, two, or one points given to the second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
Sham Stakes entries:
American Anthem. Ridden by Mike E. Smith and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, AA will be making his stakes debut at Santa Anita this Saturday. This WinStar Farm product has some big horseshoes to fill; his father, Bodemeister was arguably the premier contender from the 2012 Arkansas Derby, and finished second in the 2012 Kentucky Derby and the 2012 Preakness Stakes – both times behind I’ll Have Another. Also, this is the only horse that Colin Kaepernick doesn’t kneel before.
Term of Art
This horse is ready for a close-up after winning the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes in late November 2016, following a disheartening 9th place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Trained by Doug O’Neill and ridden by Joseph Talamo, TOA could be a late charger on Sunday, so people who bet on race horses might want to take an outside chance on him.
Bird is the Word.
This G. F. Almeida trainee will be also making his stakes debut at Santa Anita, where he will be ridden by Gonzalo Gabriel Ulloa Perez. BITW failed to win any of his four maiden race starts, but online horse race gambling experts should give him a break. By the sounds of it, he’s carrying at least two people on his back. Not much to add here other than, don’t you know ’bout the bird? Well ev’rybody knows that the bird is a word a-well-a bird bird.
Colonel Samsen.
This turf specialist is making a transition to dirt for the first time – presumably to impress the promotion board and get his brigadier general star. Brigadier General Samsen kinda has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? He will also be looking to impress people who bet on horse races.
Gormley. This three year colt trained by John A. Shirreffs and ridden by Victor Espinoza finished 7th in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on November 5th 2016, but his surprising win at the FrontRunner Stakes a little over a month prior has him 6th in the RTTKD leader board rankings with 10 points. A first or second place finish this Saturday would put Gormley in second place behind Classic Empire, or tie him for second place with Practical Joke.
Big Hit. Trained by Philip D’Amato and ridden by Santiago Gonzalez, Big Hit is the son of Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver.
Blabimir. Another Doug O’Neill trainee, Blabs might be used to set the pace for Term of Art – whom, as we noted above, could be an online horse race gambling outside shot. Blabimir will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez.