The two-time grade I-placed colt Calculator won his first race on January 10th when he scored a convincing victory in the $100,000 Sham Stakes (gr. III) at Santa Anita Park.
Although injuries and illness had prevented him from running since finishing second in the FrontRunner Stakes (gr. I) on September 27th, Calculator had little trouble defeating the seven rivals that challenged him in the Sham. Sent off as the 3-5 favorite, Calculator broke just a step slowly and was hung very wide going into the first turn, but soon settled comfortably into the fifth position as St. Joe Bay and Pioneerof the West set quick fractions of :22.87 and :46.36. After that point, Calculator advanced strongly on the outside to take over the lead after six furlongs in 1:10.43, then powered home through a final quarter in :24.45 to win going away by 4 1/4 lengths. The final time for a mile was a quick 1:34.88 seconds.
Rock Shandy, a 21-1 shot making his debut on dirt, put in a solid rally from fourth to finish second, 4 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Pioneerof the West. St. Joe Bay, Papacoolpapacool, Hero Ten All, Unblunted, and Rockinatten completed the order of finish.
Calculator is a Florida-bred son of In Summation out of Back to Basics, by Alphabet Soup. Owned by Rich C. Pell and trained by Peter Miller, Calculator earned ten Kentucky Derby qualification points for his victory, bringing his total to fourteen.
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