Finger © Akihiko Takeda
LIST OF PACIFIC CLASSIC ‘POSSIBLES’ GROWS TO NINE
The Del Mar racing office has released its list of Early Pacific Classic Possibles. It lists nine horses whose connections have indicated they might run in the $1 million, Grade I race on August 22.
Alphabetically it starts with Finger, a Japanese-bred horse who reportedly skipped the last leg of the Japan Triple Crown so he could run in the Classic. A big deal because he had won the first two legs of the series, the Haneda Hai and the Tokyo Derby. He’s a talented 3-year-old who is due to arrive at Del Mar on August 16 to begin his quarantine and final preparations for the big race.
Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., is hoping lightning can strike twice with Forged Steel. The son of Vekoma came out west in May and took the G2 Hollywood Gold Cup on Memorial Day at Santa Anita.
Full Serrano is feeling better from the quarter crack that forced him to scratch the day of the G2 San Diego. The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner is trained by John Sadler.
Also mentioned on the Del Mar list of ‘possibles’ for the 36th running of the G1 Pacific Classic is Knightsbridge, a good-looking son of Nyquist who would ship out from the Bill Mott barn at Saratoga. He just won the G3 Monmouth Cup by 10 ¼ lengths, posting a 122 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest of 2026.
Mc Vay is a 5-year-old son of Constitution, who ran third in the Hollywood Gold Cup. He’s out of trainer Peter Eurton’s barn.
Nysos is expected to be the post time favorite in Del Mar’s marquee race. He just won the G1 Met Mile at Saratoga defeating runner-up Knightsbridge by four lengths. The son of Nyquist has shown an affinity for our seaside track. He’s 3-for-3 at Del Mar, including a win in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last fall.
Rounding out the list of ‘possibles’ for the Pacific Classic are Subsanador, a hard-knocking 7-year-old out of the Richard Mandella barn, and The Goat, a Chilean-bred who has run twice in the states, most recently finishing fourth in the G2 San Diego at Del Mar.
Entries for the Pacific Classic will be drawn Sunday, August 16.
OM N JOY TESTS DEEP WATERS IN G1 CLEMENT L. HIRSCH SATURDAY
Every once in a while, a horse from a small-time barn comes along and captures the hearts of race fans. The Chosen Vron is a good example from a couple of years ago. California Chrome actually had a fan club called the ‘Chromies’ that still exist to this day. There’s another one percolating on the California racing scene that, should she win Saturday’s G1 Clement L. Hirsch, will be celebrated from Del Mar to Arcadia.
Om N Joy first caught the eyes of handicappers and race fans last year when she won five straight races, including the G3 Torrey Pines at Del Mar, her first time competing in open company. She’s the product of longtime trainer Aggie Ordonez, whose infectious personality and demeanor endear her to everyone she meets.
“I went to the grocery store and I felt someone in the next line kind of staring at me,” Ordonez says. “I walked out and as I was putting the groceries in my car I looked at him and he smiled and said, ‘Good luck this weekend.’ Only in Del Mar do you get that kind of community support where people know racing outside of the track.”
Maybe it’s because Om N Joy’s a beautiful chestnut. Maybe it’s because she’s a Cal-bred. Maybe it’s the clever name. Whatever the reason race fans have gravitated toward the horse and her conditioner, a hard-working trainer with just 18 horses at Del Mar this year. That’s a far cry from the 40-plus horses Bob Baffert, Michael McCarthy and Phil D’Amato bring to the table every summer.
“I definitely have a lot of support around me,” Ordonez says. “The warm reception that I’ve received in Southern California from fellow trainers and riders. All week long I’ve got call outs here at Del Mar on the backside. Five o’clock in the morning I’ll hear, ‘Go get ‘em this weekend, Aggie.’ It’s heartwarming.”
Om N Joy went from last to first in the four-horse G2 Santa Margarita in May at Santa Anita, her first victory since winning the G3 Torrey Pines last summer.
“I think they gift wrapped it, put a bow on top of it and handed it to me,” Ordonez notes, “which I received graciously. It was the most glorious set up for us. Everybody went for the lead and my mare was perfectly comfortable coming off the pace. Of course, I had the right rider to just be patient.”
That rider is Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux, who has been riding Om N Joy since April of 2025. He hopped on after her maiden win. She promptly won three straight Cal-bred stakes races before venturing out into open company and upsetting the Torrey Pines, beating odd-on favorite Tenma, the 2024 Del Mar Debutante and 2025 Santa Anita Oaks winner. The victory got Ordonez thinking about bigger and better things so in October she took Om N Joy back east to run in the G2 Raven Run at Keeneland.
They finished fourth that day after which Ordonez gave her star filly a six-month break before bringing her back in even deeper waters, the G1 Beholder at Santa Anita in March. She was a non-threatening third followed by a fifth in the G1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park in April behind the likes of Nitrogen.
Back home in California, Ordonez decided to try her on the turf in the Fran’s Valentine and she got trounced by Grand Slam Smile, finishing last. So, it was back on the dirt the next time out and Om N Joy came from behind to win the Santa Margarita by 3 ¾ lengths.
“It’s truly been the joy of my life,” Ordonez claims. “She has taken me to every new height I have reached in my career. I’m 58 and I’m fortunate to have been in this game for 50 years. I was eight when I was walking around the shedrow with my dad. Long enough to appreciate something special when it comes along.
“To make it better she’s owned by some fabulous people,” Ordonez continues. “Not just friends, but they feel like family. All that together has made it an incredible journey.”
Baker Stables and Scanlan Racing own the filly. Jerry and Connie Baker bred the daughter of Om who’s out of the Hard Spun mare Margie’s Minute.
“She’s gone from being a teenage girl to a young woman,” Ordonez says of Om N Joy. “She’s filled out and blossomed and become a big, strong filly.”
According to her trainer, Om N Joy knows when a race is coming up for her.
“Ninety percent of the time she’s a sweetheart,” Ordonez concedes. “But when she gets closer to her races she gets testy. I had to send a lead pony with her the past two weeks because she gets a little feisty. She’ll feel horses race by as she’s coming home and she’ll buck and wheel and fire at them. She’s a handful right now.”
That may not be good news for her opponents on Saturday.
“She nipped at me this morning,” Ordonez adds, “which is out of character for her. But that’s okay. I’ll take a couple of bruises for her to be on her game.”
PAVEL TO HAVE A STRONG PRESENCE IN $100,000 C.T.B.A STAKES SUNDAY
The 2-year-olds step into the spotlight Sunday when Del Mar runs the first of 10 juvenile stakes this summer, the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes, or C.T.B.A for short.
Seven 2-year-old fillies will line up for the 5 ½-furlong test on the main track. Five of the seven entries won first time out and three of them are by the third-year sire Pavel. One of those is Free Closer, who followed her maiden score at Santa Anita with a trip back to Kentucky. She ran in the $225,000 Debutant at Churchill Downs and finished fifth.
“She had a wide trip in Kentucky against open company,” trainer Michael McCarthy points out. " Now she’s back in against Cal-breds. She’s not real big, but has a nice way about her and fits in perfectly with these.”
Free Closer is one of two fillies in the race who is bred and owned by Del Mar’s current leading owner, Reddam Racing. The other is You Trust Me, also by Pavel, who broke her maiden first time out at Los Alamitos in June.
“She beat a very bad field at Los Al,” trainer Simon Callaghan admits. “But she did everything you can ask from a filly first time out. To be honest I didn’t expect her to win. But she’s a good, strong-looking filly and she’s improved for the race. I think she’ll need to step up from that first race but it looks like she has a little bit in the morning.”
The third of the Pavel progeny running in the C.T.B.A. is Strident Miss who, unlike the first two, was bred by her trainer Paula Capestro. She broke her maiden at Del Mar on opening day
“I was very impressed,” Capestro says of the race. “She broke off the pace and came running and got there.”
Strident Miss will have a new rider as Kazushi Kimura replaces Armando Ayuso. Capestro’s not sure if they’ll employ the same tactics in Sunday’s race.
“It will all depend on how the race sets up and the ride,” Capestro notes. “With these 2-year-olds you just have to take it as it comes.”
Ayuso is staying with another C.T.B.A. runner - Jolene Fury - and why not. The daughter of Stay Thirsty broke her maiden by nine lengths at Santa Anita back in May.
“She did not surprise me,” trainer Jorge Periban says. “She’s shown a lot of talent from the beginning. She’s been doing great after that race.“
Periban expects her to be on the lead.
“Last time I worked her slow (5f, 1:03.40 at Del Mar on July 25) but she’s got a lot of speed. She’s going to go to the front as long as everything’s okay in the gate. You never know.”
The 73rd running of the C.T.B.A. Stakes is Race 9 on the 10-race card. Probable post time is 6 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Sentient Soon (Kyle Frey, 5-1); Jolene Fury (5-1); Strident Miss (4-1); You Trust Me (Joel Rosario, 12-1); Free Closer (Juan Hernandez, 8/5); Stay Bossy (Antonio Fresu, 6-1), and On Broadway (Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1).
COOLING OUT: He’s a Knockout came out of his victory in the Real Good Deal Stakes “very good,” according to trainer Carla Gaines. “Didn’t miss an oat.” Gaines, who was emotional after Friday’s win, says she’s not sure where she will go next with the colt. He’s a Knockout was bred by the late John Harris, who was key to Gaines’ success as a trainer…Jena Antonucci made quite an impression with the first horse she’s ever run at Del Mar. The first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race (she won the 2023 Belmont Stakes with Arcangelo) has brought a small string of horses to Del Mar this summer including Party Animal. He fought He’s a Knockout tooth and nail down the lane in the Real Good Deal Stakes only to come up a head short in the end…It was like the old days for jockey Joel Rosario Friday as he pulled off his first hat trick of the summer meet and first since returning to Del Mar this year. He won Race 1 with Decapo; Race 5 with Blame It On Abby and with He’s a Knockout in the feature…Jockey Hector I. Berrios is expected to be back riding today. He called in sick Friday and took off all of his mounts. He has three mounts today…Notable workouts for Saturday: Dirt – British Isles (4f, :49.60); Mr. A.P. (4f, :46.60); The Goat (4f, :48.20); Grand Slam Smile (5f, 1:01.80), and Sweet Azteca (6f, 1:11.20).