We are now less than three weeks away from the 34th running of the G1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and the list of contenders is beginning to grow. In the game of horse racing, nothing is official until the horse actually steps into the gate but the Classic is as good as done when the racing office draws the entries the Tuesday before the race. 

Trainers will nominate horses to the race weeks in advance but that could mean anything from definitely pointing to the race to keeping it an option. Nominations for the Classic close Thursday, August 21.

So any list at this point in time is filled with fact mixed with rumors, conjecture and a small dose of wishful thinking. 

That being said, there are a couple of horses that trainers have indicated are being pointed toward the $1 million race on Saturday, August 30 beginning with one trainer who doesn’t make it a habit to reveal his intentions weeks in advance. But Bob Baffert has been quoted several times as saying his G2 San Diego Handicap winner Nysos will run in the Pacific Classic.

He’s also mentioned Mirahmadi as a possibility for the mile and a quarter race that’s a ‘Win and You’re In’ for the Breeders’ Cup Classic this fall at Del Mar. 

Trainer John Shirreffs has mentioned running the veteran Express Train in the Classic, though he’s also considering the 8-year old for the G2 Pat O’Brien the week before.

The Pat O’Brien on Saturday August 23 is seven furlongs, shorter than what Express Train has been running for most of his career, but not unprecedented. 

“He ran really well going short when I ran him first off the layoff,” Shirreffs notes referring to his third-place finish in the Kona Gold at Santa Anita in 2024, Express Train’s first race in 19 months.

Shirreffs says he’ll make a decision after Express Train’s next work, which should be next week. He breezed Thursday (4f, :49.00), his first work since running third in the San Diego.

Shirreffs’ other star in the stable, Baeza, also breezed four furlongs Thursday (4f, :48.00), his first work since returning from New York after his runner-up finish to Sovereignty in the G2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. The G1 Travers had been mentioned as a possible next race for the son of McKinzie but now Shirreffs says he is not going back to New York with the colt.

“He had his first breeze yesterday and he looked good,” Shirreffs says. “We’ll tell more after his next breeze.”

Various reports have Shirreffs considering the Pacific Classic or staying with his own age group in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx in September. 

Another horse reportedly pointing to the Pacific Classic is 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio. Trainer Saffie Joseph made that announcement last week. 

Also mentioned as possible contenders for the Classic are Mark Glatt’s Judge Miller and Ultimate Gamble and Craig Dollase’s Midnight Mammoth, winner of last year’s G3 Cougar II at Del Mar.

Of course everyone is keeping an eye out and an ear open for any word from the Michael McCarthy barn about his super horse, Journalism, who put in his first work Saturday since his win in the Haskell last month. 

The connections for the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes runner-up -- and winner of the Preakness -- have been weighing their options between staying home and running in the Pacific Classic or shipping back east for the G1 Travers at Saratoga. We should learn more next weekend when they put another work into Journalism. 

Two horses that had been rumored heading to the Classic are no longer under consideration. Full Serrano, who came within yards of winning last year’s Pacific Classic before getting rundown by Mixto, will not make the big race. He worked Sunday morning for trainer John Sadler.

“He went a minute and went beautiful,” Sadler notes. “We’re going to look for something late in the meet.”

He added a definitive ‘no’ when asked about the Pacific Classic.

Tarantino was also in the rumor mill heading to the Classic but trainer Peter Eurton says he might go back east to the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia on August 22 or to the Far East to South Korea for the Korea Cup. Eurton says they’ve received an invitation to that big race on September 7.