Collected Clearly Best in Sham Stakes for Baffert

Collected opened a clear lead in the stretch and held on gamely to win the Sham Stakes under Martin Garcia on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. (BENOIT photo)
By Tom LaMarra, @BH_TLaMarra
Speedway Stable's Collected made the most of his first start on dirt with a smooth victory from just off the pace in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds on Jan. 9 at Santa Anita Park.
Hall of Famer Bob Baffert trains Collected, as well as second-place finisher Let's Meet in Rio, who rallied from last in the eight-horse field. Laoban finished third and Found Money, a two-time stakes winner, came in fourth in the one-mile Sham.
Collected, by City Zip out of the Johannesburg mare Helena Bay, was purchased for $170,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale Co. March sale of 2-year-olds in training. In his career debut on Oct. 12, Collected won a maiden special weight race on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita. He followed with a solid second in the Nov. 29 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, a one-mile turf race at Del Mar won by Dressed in Hermes, who was scratched from the Sham.
“The way he was working in the morning, we thought we’d try him on dirt,” Baffert said after Collected earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. “I wasn’t convinced he was a turf horse. He had to dig down in this race and show some guts. Now that we know he is a dirt horse and can go two turns, there are different spots out there [for his next race].”
ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS STANDINGS
Collected, sent off as the 3-2 favorite, engaged in a four-way speed competition from widest of all entering the first turn, but he settled into fourth under jockey Martin Garcia on the backstretch as 24.40-1 longshot Semper Fortis pulled ahead to set quarter-mile fractions of :23.29 and :47.18 through a half-mile, with I’malreadythere and Found Money tracking.
The leader was swallowed up before the field passed six furlongs in 1:11.92, and it was Collected who emerged with the lead from the outside and gradually pulled away in the stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:38 for the mile.
Let’s Meet in Rio, who passed all but one runner late, had to survive a stewards’ inquiry under Kent Desormeaux for possible interference entering the stretch, but no change was made. Baffert said he was impressed with the effort by the Flatter colt, who earned his first win going one mile at Los Alamitos in his third start.
Collected, bred in Kentucky by Runnymede Farm and Peter Callahan, paid $5 to win, $3.60 to place, and $3 to show.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
COLLECTED TAKES COMMAND

BENOIT photo