Nevada Beach © Benoit Photo
POSSIBLES FOR PACIFIC CLASSIC GROW AFTER NYSOS DEFECTION
Some of the names have changed on the list of possible participants in this year’s G1 Pacific Classic and it has nothing to do with protecting the innocent. It may have more to do with the defection of probable race favorite Nysos. Suddenly the $1 million race appears wide open, so several connections are reconsidering taking a shot in Del Mar’s marquee race on August 22.
This week’s newcomers on the list are trainer Bob Baffert’s replacement for Nysos, Nevada Beach; Bartholdy a recent $100,000 claim by trainer Steve Knapp; British Isles from trainer Richard Baltas’ stable; Florida-based Navajo Warrior and Om N Joy, a Cal-bred filly who just missed in the G1 Clement Hirsch last weekend.
Nysos was dropped from consideration earlier this week after a routine diagnostic test showed subtle imaging changes on a scan. He is not injured but the time needed to address the situation prevents the son of Nyquist from making this year’s Breeders’ Cup, so Baffert and the owners decided it best to retire the G1 Met Mile winner. This is the second year in a row Nysos has been pointed to the big race only to miss it. Last year he was scratched hours before the race with a bruised hoof.
But Baffert will not be without a runner in the Pacific Classic. He hadn’t missed a Pacific Classic in 16 years until last year. This year he may run Nevada Beach, winner last fall of the G3 Native Diver at Del Mar. Baffert worked the son of Omaha Beach seven furlongs Thursday morning in 1:24.60. Nevada Beach hasn’t raced since he ran 12th in the Saudi Cup in February.
New on the list of ‘Possibles’ for the Pacific Classic is Bartholdy, a son of Mendelssohn, the $100,000 claim by owners David Bernsen and TCC Stables. He won the race he was claimed out of, a second-level allowance race at Del Mar, by 6 ½ lengths on July 25. Bartholdy has run in five graded stakes races over his career, all grade 3’s, and finished third in all five.
Trainer Richard Baltas also is considering running the G1 Santa Anita Handicap winner British Isles in the Classic. Since taking the ‘Big Cap’ in March, he has run sixth in the G3 Ben Ali at Keeneland and fourth in the G2 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Memorial Day. The son of Justify worked Friday morning going five furlongs on the main track in 1:00.80.
Om N Joy is the eye opener of the bunch. The Cal-bred filly just finished a fast-closing second to Eunomia in the G1 Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar last week. But trainer Aggie Ordonez thinks the mile and a quarter might be ideal for her horse.
“I’m thinking about,” Ordonez says. “I don’t know who’s coming but I think the distance is right up her alley and I know she loves this track. She’s on top of her game right now. If there was a filly and mare race between now and the end of the meet, going long and on the dirt, I would run in it. I don’t want to run her on the grass again and I don’t want to sprint her.”
Navajo Warrior is also new to the list. Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. initially considered his Hollywood Gold Cup winner Forged Steel for the Pacific Classic, but opted to run him in Saturday’s G1 Whitney at Saratoga. Instead, Joseph, Jr. is considering sending his G3 Cornhusker winner out west.
Subsanador is definitely being pointed to the Pacific Classic. That’s according to trainer Richard Mandella after his Argentine-bred put in a one-mile work between races on Thursday.
“When he came back he knew he worked,” Mandella claimed Friday morning. “He finished his last eighth in eleven and change. That’s pretty good for going a mile. I was very happy with it. He came out of it good.”
Mandella was looking to get a more ‘race-like’ work into Subsanador, who missed his prep, the G2 San Diego last month. Working before the crowd in the afternoon gives the horse the adrenaline rush that he can’t get before an empty grandstand in the morning. Subsanador stopped the clock at 1:37.25.
Remaining as ‘possibles’ for the Pacific Classic are 2024 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano and the Chilean-bred The Goat, both trained by John Sadler; Knightsbridge from the Bill Mott barn at Saratoga; Finger, the Tokyo Derby winner who is expected to ship in from Japan next week, and Malarchuk, runner-up in the G2 Hollywood Gold Cup last out. He worked four furlongs in :48.60 on the main track at Del Mar Friday.
Nominations to the 36th running of the G1, $1 million Pacific Classic close on Thursday, August 13. Entries will be drawn on Sunday, August 16.
SHIPPERS BULK UP FIELD IN G2 YELLOW RIBBON AT DEL MAR SATURDAY
It’s tourist season in Southern California when people come from all parts of the world to enjoy San Diego’s sites and attractions. And it’s not only humans making the trip. Seven fillies and mares will go a mile and a sixteenth on the Jimmy Durante turf course in Saturday’s 74th running of Yellow Ribbon Stakes. Of the seven, five will be coming to Del Mar from locales outside of California.
Posts one through three of the Yellow Ribbon will be filled with out-of-towners. Princess Attitude from the Victoria Oliver barn in Kentucky; Sweet Rebecca from the Michael Maker stable, and Vincey Girl from Jose D’Angelo’s Florida string. Then there’s trainer Graham Motion’s Warming, who visited Del Mar last fall. She’s back for the Yellow Ribbon as is Whiskey Decision, who was moved from the Chad Brown barn on the east coast into Michael McCarthy’s care on the west coast.
“She came to our barn five weeks ago,” McCarthy notes. “They (Alpha Delta Stables) wanted to capitalize on her pedigree and pad her resume with a graded stake out here.”
The daughter of Into Mischief has proven competitive in graded stakes company, missing by a nose in the G2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs in March and finishing second to Gimme a Nother in the G3 Eatontown at Monmouth Park in June. Gimme a Nother came back and won the G2 Beverly D. at Colonial Downs last weekend.
“I thought it was a solid race,” McCarthy says of Whiskey Decision’s outing on the Jersey Shore. “She’s come back and is training well. She’s got a touch of class about her.”
One horse who might have a slight edge over the other shippers in terms of familiarity with Del Mar is Warming, who raced at the seaside oval last year. She ran in the G3 Bayakoa, finishing seventh in the eight-horse field. But it was her first time on dirt.
“She was here and there really wasn’t a race for her on the grass,” explains Alice Clapham, assistant trainer to Graham Motion. “She had breezed a couple of times on the dirt and they always wanted to give her one try on the dirt just to see so we did. We learned she’s not a dirt horse.”
In the races since the dirt try (two on the synthetic, two on the turf) Warming finished in of the money in all four.
The daughter of Global Campaign is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbreds. She won the G3 Gallorette in May on the Preakness Stakes undercard at Laurel Park.
“She’s a tough filly who loves to run,” Clapham states. “She tries really hard. Juan (Hernandez) has ridden her before and won on her before so I think this will be a great spot.”
She’ll be running at her fifth different racetrack in her last five races and Clapham says she handled the shipping like a pro.
Princess Attitude may have the more intriguing pedigree. The 4-year-old filly is by Frankel, the Euro star who was undefeated throughout his 14-race career. Ten of those victories were Grade I’s. Princess Attitude has yet to win a stakes race but she ran second in the $100,000 Indiana General Assembly at Horseshoe Indiana last time out.
Sweet Rebecca is by American Pharoah and has won six of her 10 career starts, including last out in the $125,000 Wasted Tears at Lone Star Park. She also won the $150,000 Sand Springs at Gulfstream Park in March.
Vincey Girl comes into Del Mar from South Florida where she won the $75,000 Powder Break at Gulfstream Park in her last race. Her trainer is no stranger to Del Mar sweeping back-to-back Breeders’ Cup races here last fall. D’Angelo won with Shisospicy in the Turf Sprint and Bentornato in the Sprint. He has a string of horses stabled at Del Mar this summer.
The local contingent consists of Princess Moche, a Peruvian-bred who ran two weeks ago in the $100,000 Daisycutter at Del Mar finishing fourth and Take A Breath, an English-bred who made her U.S. debut at Del Mar last year in the G1 Del Mar Oaks. She was a hard-charging fourth that day and has since comeback to win back-to-back Grade 3 races, the Santa Ana in March and the Royal Heroine in April, both at Santa Anita. Her most recent run was a third in the G1 Gamely on Memorial Day.
The Yellow Ribbon is Race 8 on Saturday’s 10-race card. Probable post time is 5:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Princess Attitude (Kazushi Kimura, 12-1); Sweet Rebecca (Antonio Fresu, 7/2); Vincey Girl (Joel Rosario, 12-1); Princess Moche (Joe Bravo, 6-1); Take A Breath (Emisael Jaramillo, 3-1); Warming (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Innovative (SCRATCHED), and Whiskey Decision (Umberto Rispoli, 2-1).
TOP JUVENILES GET FIRST TEST IN G3 BEST PAL
It’s time to begin separating the men from the boys at Del Mar. After three weeks of preliminaries consisting of 2-year-old maiden races and a couple of Cal-bred stakes races, the first of five Graded stakes for juveniles takes place Saturday. The G3 Best Pal is a 6-furlong test that acts as the local prep for the G1 Del Mar Futurity next month.
Trainer Bob Baffert is bringing back Hughes, an Into Mischief colt who broke his maiden first out at Los Alamitos by six lengths.
“He hasn’t run in a while but he’s doing well,” Baffert says. “His first race was pretty impressive and his mind’s been good. The second out is always the most important. This time he’s running with better horses and it’s a pretty competitive race. There are three really good colts in there.”
Those three would be his horse, Kennyten and He Is No Lie, horses who all broke their maidens at first asking by open lengths.
Kennyten is a son of Drain the Clock, who won first time out by 7 ½ lengths at Santa Anita in June. He’s out of the Vladimir Cerin barn.
“Michael McCarthy bought him for Holly and David Wilson,” Cerin explains. “He had several of his own so he gave me this one. One race doesn’t make a career but so far so good.”
He Is No Lie is trained by Del Mar’s current leading trainer Doug O’Neill. After coasting to an eight-length victory in his debut, O’Neill sent the son of Early Voting back to Churchill Downs and ran him in the $200,000 Bashford Manor where he got run down on the wire and lost by a head.
“That was scary fast,” notes Leandro Mora, O’Neill’s assistant. “We didn’t expect that so after that race we got pretty excited. He’s training really well and has adapted to Del Mar.”
O’Neill also brings Phone Booth to the Best Pal. The son of Pavel broke his maiden at first asking, winning on opening weekend at Del Mar.
The other two runners in the Best Pal are still maidens. Icanthelpmyself and You Want Some are first-time starters.
“We wanted to run in a maiden race,” trainer Peter Miller states of his horse You Want Some. “But the race didn’t go so it forced us into this spot. We either sit him in the barn or run him in a stake and I don’t want to wait.”
The 56th running of the Best Pal, which used to be called the Balboa Stakes until Del Mar changed the name in 1996 to commemorate the Hall of Famer and three-time California Horse of the Year. It’s Race 3 on Saturday’s card. Probable post time is 3 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Phone Booth (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); He Is No Lie (Emisael Jaramillo, 2-1); Hughes (Juan Hernandez, 3-1); Icanthelpmyself (Armando Ayuso, 8-1); You Want Some (Kazushi Kimura, 8-1), and Kennyten (Ricky Gonzalez, 9/5).
WEEKEND HANDICAPPING SEMINARS BACK AT DEL MAR
Racing fans can once again take part in Del Mar’s Free Weekend Handicapping Seminars, held each Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 p.m. on the Kona Stage in the Plaza de Mexico.
The seminars, which run for approximately a half hour prior to the first race post at 2 p.m., offer insights on the day’s racing card from expert handicappers.
Del Mar veteran Dan Smith is the host for the Saturday cards and his guest this week is newspaper handicapper Ed Wilson.
Sunday programs will be overseen by handicapping ace Frank Scatoni and he’ll have as his guest this week horse player Reuben Mendez.
COOLING OUT: Mother Nature gave Del Mar an unexpected blast of rain Friday morning. Just before 8 a.m. the skies opened and dumped enough rain to puddle up in the parking lot and front side. A lovely rainbow appeared over the seaside oval as those viewing the workouts scurried for cover in the grandstand. After about 15 minutes it was all over and while the frontside was dealing with muddy conditions the backside remained fast and didn’t appear to get a drop…Eight races on Thursday at Del Mar resulted in eight different winning jockeys and eight different winning trainers…There will be a Pick 6 carryover of $28,077 on Friday…Notable works on Friday – Dirt – Baltic Fire (4f, :48.60); Formidable Man (4f, :48.20), and Man O Rose (5f, :59.00). 129 horses put in official works on the main track at Del Mar Friday.