Nysos © Benoit Photo
NYSOS TO PACIFIC CLASSIC AT DEL MAR NEXT MONTH
Great news out of Kentucky where trainer Bob Baffert has announced he will point his star pupil, Nysos, to this year’s Pacific Classic. Baffert had been considering the G1 Whitney at Saratoga August 8, but decided to stick with his original plan.
“It was always my plan,” Baffert says of running Nysos in Del Mar’s marquee race.
The Pacific Classic will be run August 22 at its usual mile and a quarter. If Nysos had run in the nine-furlong Whitney Baffert said he would have had to run him again before the Breeders’ Cup.
“I can run him in the Pacific Classic and then go straight to the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert notes, “so the timing is good. And I want to support Del Mar.”
Word is the son of Nyquist arrived at Del Mar this morning. He can make a case to be called the best handicap horse in the country. After winning the G2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar last year and then the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in the fall, Nysos won the Laffit Pincay, Jr. at Santa Anita in late December. He then was valiant runner-up to Forever Young in the Saudi Cup in February before returning stateside and winning the G1 Met Mile at Saratoga on Belmont Stakes Day.
SATURDAY’S GRADED STAKES WINNERS COME BACK IN GOOD ORDER
Both winners of Saturday’s Grade II stakes races at Del Mar are doing fine according to their trainers Sunday morning.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said “all was good” with Journalism following his dramatic win in the G2 San Diego Handicap. The son of Curlin was the heavy favorite in the scratch-depleted San Diego. But an awkward start placed him last of the five runners rounding the first turn.
"He was leaning forward, then he took a step back just as they popped the gate,” jockey Umberto Rispoli said afterward. “He was away a little slow; I think he might have spotted those other horses maybe five or six lengths. But by the time we got to the first turn, I was comfortable.”
Journalism inched his way into contention by the time they reached the final turn and then unleashed a huge turn of foot that carried him past the bunched field at the top of the lane. He had to withstand the late surge of closer and runner-up Shea Brennan, but held on for the victory.
The sense of relief among his connections in the winner’s circle was palpable.
“It kind of took the starch out of everything when he got left at the gate,” co-owner and managing partner of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners Aron Wellman conceded. “We just wanted him (Rispoli) to take care of business from there and he did a great job of being poised and the horse did the rest.”
The San Diego is considered the local prep for the $1 million Pacific Classic next month but McCarthy was not ready to commit just yet.
“We tried the Pacific Classic last year,” McCarthy noted. “We’ll see what other options are out there, too.”
One of the scratches in the San Diego was Full Serrano, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner at Del Mar in 2024. Assistant trainer Juan Leyva said they discovered a quarter crack Saturday morning. But trainer John Sadler said he was encouraged by what they found Sunday morning.
“It’s still day to day,” Sadler pointed out, “but we think he can make the Pacific Classic.”
The South American horse ran second to Mixto in the 2024 Pacific Classic.
Sadler also says his G2 San Clemente winner came out of the race good. Somerset West’s victory was more of a surprise than Journalism’s. The 3-year-old daughter of Kantharos rallied up the rail and scored a 35-1 upset. She was making a big jump up in class having just broken her maiden in her last race.
“She's run three or four good races,” Sadler claims. “A little unlucky a couple of times. A really great ride. You got to give him (jockey Armando Ayuso) credit. He saved all the ground and came up the rail. He’s growing up here in Southern California"
Although Sadler is second on the all-time list of trainers stakes victories at Del Mar with 94, this was his first San Clemente win. It was Ayuso’s fifth stakes victory at Del Mar.
A crowd of 13, 838 were on hand for day two of racing at Del Mar this summer. Racing resumes Sunday, first post at 2 p.m. and then Del Mar is dark until Thursday.
MOTORIOUS MAKES 2026 DEBUT IN SALTY ALLOWANCE SUNDAY
Three-time winner of the G2 Green Flash Handicap, Motorious will make his 2026 debut in a third-level allowance race at Del Mar Sunday. He won the Green Flash outright in 2023 and 2024 and then via DQ last year.
The 8-year-old gelding hasn’t raced since running seventh in the G2 Joe Hernandez, down the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in December. Before that he had run fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
“There’s no other spot to run him in,” trainer Phil D’Amato says. “I didn’t want to wait another month so I’m using this allowance as a prep for the Green Flash.”
The Green Flash Handicap is run on the Pacific Classic undercard on August 22. It’s a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Motorious will have his hands full Sunday with the likes of Sumter, winner of the G3 San Simeon at Santa Anita in March and runner-up to Freedom’s Not Free in the G3 Daytona where he missed by a nose.
“Just trying to win a race,” trainer Richard Mandella says of the class drop for Sumter. “It’s a tough race. It’s a stakes race really. He’s a pretty good little horse.”
There’s also Flyover, who’s trained by John Sadler. He’s a Cal-bred son of Om who posted back-to-back wins in the $100,000 Sensational Star at Santa Anita in March and the $100,000 Crystal Water in May.
Motorious’ stablemate, Sorrento Sky, and Book Smart from the Bob Hess, Jr. barn are both in this race and both have been competitive at the stakes level.
It’s Race 3 on the 11-race Sunday card. Probable post time is 3 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds: Nesso’s Lastharrah (Esimael Jaramillo, 12-1); Flyover (Joel Rosario, 6-1); Call Me Cory (Edwin Maldonado, 8-1); Sumter (Kazushi Kimura, 3-1); Book Smart (Mike Smith, 5-1); Motorious (Antonio Fresu, 2-1) and Sorrento Sky (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1).
BING CROSBY, EDDIE READ HIGHLIGHT NEXT WEEK’S RACING AT DEL MAR
The stakes action at Del Mar continues next weekend with a triple-header of races on Saturday. First on Friday (7-24) is the first Cal-bred stakes of the summer, the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes. Then Saturday (7-25) it’s the 81st running of the G1, $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Two other stakes will make up the undercard for Saturday: the $100,000 Daisycutter Handicap and the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes. The G2, $250,000 Eddie Read closes out the week’s stakes action on Sunday (7-26).
The 41st running of the Fleet Treat Stakes will feature a dozen Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs on the main track. Last year the popular Om N Joy won the Fleet Treat. It’s the first of eight Cal-bred stakes races on the Del Mar summer schedule this year.
The first of Del Mar’s six Grade I races takes place Saturday. Ten horses have been nominated to the Bing Crosby, including Bob Baffert’s Cornucopian, last year’s G2 Pat O’Brien winner Dr. Venkman and 2024 Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold. They’ll go six furlongs on the dirt with the winner earning a spot in the starting gate for the BC Sprint at Keeneland at the end of October. Last year’s race was won by longshot Lovesick Blues.
The other two stakes races on Saturday will be run on the turf. The 24th running of the Daisycutter is a five-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. It attracted 19 nominations including Ag Bullet a multiple graded stakes winner from the Richard Baltas barn.
Twenty-eight fillies and mares were nominated for the 71st running of the Osunitas Stakes, a one-mile contest on the grass. Ag Bullet has been nominated for this race, too, in addition to Magnificat, winner of the Desert Stormer at Santa Anita and subsequent runner up in the G2 Great Lady M at Los Alamitos.
Sunday some of the best grass horses on the grounds are expected to show up for the 53rd running of the G2 Eddie Read Stakes, won last year by Formidable Man. He’s one of the 15 nominations to the 1 1/8-mile turf race as well as stablemate Mondego, winner of the G2 Charles Whittingham at Santa Anita in May and Gold Phoenix, four-time winner of the G2 Del Mar Handicap.
REMEMBERING JOHN SHIRREFFS
It was morning on the backside at Del Mar. Trainers and their staff were busy tending to their chores. Some horses were being prepared for their morning gallops but for the most part it was quiet, typical for a weekday during the fall meet.
But in one particular stall a horse was having issues.
Across the freeway from the racetrack, in a marshy area of the San Dieguito Lagoon, a construction crew was installing large metal pylons using a device that made a loud clang as it crashed down on the metal pylon, driving it into the ground. Throughout the morning you could hear the distinct sound of metal meeting metal. Bang !!! Bang !!! Bang!!! A constant pounding, loud enough to be heard but easily dismissed…by humans.
But to a high-strung Thoroughbred like Express Train, it was very disturbing. Enter trainer John Shirreffs, a veteran of the game who had been to the mountain top of horseracing with Zenyatta and had won a Kentucky Derby with Giacomo. He knew a thing or two about horses and on this particular morning he was in the stall with Express Train, talking him off the ledge so to speak. In a soft whisper, Shirreffs tried to soothe the savage beast, though with every new round of hammering, Express Train was back in a bad place, tossing his head and vocalizing his displeasure.
Undeterred, Shirreffs stayed with his horse for as long as it took to calm him down. Stroking his neck, patting him on the back, reassuring Express Train with a zen-like whisper that everything was all right. It was a marvelous display of horsemanship and eventually the Thoroughbred returned to his old self.
For the first time in over 30 years, John Shirreffs will not be wandering the Del Mar backside this summer, tending to the horses in his barn or taking the short walk out to the viewer stand near the half mile pole to observe one of his horses out on the track. Shirreffs passed away suddenly last February. He was 80 years old.
John was always approachable. If you caught him on a good day he would open up and lend insight into the horses, the kind of knowledge that came with being around them his entire life, not to mention what he picked up from 47 years of training.
My last conversation with John came during last year’s fall meet which was plagued by a couple of rainstorms that interrupted training for the horses stabled at Del Mar. On this particular day, Shirreffs and I were seated on his favorite viewing stand talking about the necessity to get a horse out of his stall. In that brief conversation I learned of the importance of keeping a horse moving, how the “frog” in a horse’s hoof helps pump the blood. It was a lesson in horsemanship provided by one of the best in the business. It was not a lecture. It was presented in an unpretentious and simple way that even a novice like myself could understand.
Many of Shirreffs horses have been switched to new barns since John’s passing in February. Some like star Baeza are with Bill Mott on the East Coast. That’s a noticeable void on the backside of Del Mar. The couch and seating area Shirreffs’ set up outside his office at barn MM is also a notable absence. As well as the man himself.
COOLING OUT: Last year’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes winner Sammy Davis will run in an entry level allowance race (Race 5) Sunday. The John Sadler trainee has not won since that August triumph at Del Mar but finished second in the Cal Cup Derby in his 3-year-old debut in January…Defending jockeys champion Juan Hernandez vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with four wins Saturday. One was aboard the talented 2-year-old Holmby, who gave trainer Bob Baffert his first win of the summer meet… Notable works on Sunday. Dirt – Om N Joy (4f, :46.20); Pavlovian (4f, :51.00); Cabo Spirit (5f, 1:00.00); Formidable Man (5f, 1:01.20); Hey Jessie (5f, :58.80); Majestic Oops (5f, :59.20); Stay Hot (5f, :59.80) and On the Whim (6f, 1:13.4); Turf - El Potente (4f, :48.20); Kentucky Gal (4f, :52.20); Ag Bullet (5f, 1:04.60); Almendares (5f, 1:04.80); Gold Phoenix (5f, 1:04.60) and Mondego (5f, 1:03.00). A total of 274 horses put in official works on the Del Mar main track Sunday. Thirty three worked on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.