Shanghai Bobby, last year’s champion 2-year-old male by Harlan’s Holiday, and the undefeated winner of the Breeders’ Cup Grey Goose Juvenile (G1), received the high weight assignment of 126 pounds on The Jockey Club’s 2012 Experimental Free Handicap, released Jan. 30 by The Jockey Club.
The Experimental weights are based on a theoretical race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, the exact conditions of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Harlan’s Holiday had the most males on the list, with five.
Shanghai Bobby, who also won the Champagne S. (G1) and Hopeful S. (G2) and earned $1,687,000 during his championship campaign, was Harlan’s Holiday’s leading earner last year. The dark bay colt propelled his sire to the top of the 2012 2-year-old Sire list.
Bred in Kentucky by Stonehaven Steadings, Shanghai Bobby is owned by Starlight Racing, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith. Starlight principal Jack Wolf purchased Shanghai Bobby for $105,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Shanghai Bobby made his 2013 debut in the Grade 3 Holy Bull S. Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park, where he was a solid second in a race where a track record was set and Shanghai Bobby earned a lifetime-best Beyer Speed Figure of 100. Pletcher said his colt would start next in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) on March 30.
