Shared Belief, Eclipse winner in 2013, dies

Shared Belief, one of the best horses ever to train at Golden Gate Fields, died Thursday at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine after a rupture in his stomach.

Trained and co-owned by Jerry Hollendorfer, the 4-year-old gelding won 10 of 12 starts, including five Grade 1 events and earned $2,932,200.

On a Facebook, radio-TV personality and co-owner Jim Rome wrote: Thoroughbred racing is a sport filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

Shared Belief began his career at Golden Gate Fields with a 7-length maiden win Oct. 19, 2013, for original owners and breeders Martin and Pamela Wygod and trainer Jedd Josephson.

Shared Belief easily won the Hollywood Prevue Stakes and CashCall Futurity to earn his Eclipse Award, but he missed the Triple Crown campaign in 2014 because of an abscess in a hoof that developed into a quarter crack.

Hollendorfer brought Shared Belief back from Santa Anita to Golden Gate Fields to train on its Tapeta Footings synthetic surface, and the gelding won four straight races before finishing fourth as the favorite when he was severely hampered early in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic.