Pacific Classic preview

With today being the biggest day at Saratoga with the Travers, tomorrow is the biggest day at Del Mar. Lets take a look at this year's Pacific Classic field.



9th Race - Del Mar - Sunday, August 25th, 2013
STAKES. 1 1/4 Mile Synthetic. Purse $1,000,000. TVG Pacific Classic S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD. By subscription of $300 each to accompany the nomination. (05:10 PM) (13)
PP Horse A/S M/E Wgt Jockey Trainer
1 Endorsement 6 H L 124 Leparoux Julien R. Palma Hector O.
2 Liaison 4 C L 124 Garcia Martin Baffert Bob
3 Holding Glory (BRZ) 4 C L 124 Sutherland-Kruse Chantal Avila A. C.
4 Farraaj (IRE) 4 G 124 Gomez Garrett K. Varian Roger
5 You Know I Know 4 G L 124 Maldonado Edwin A. Sadler John W.
6 Richard's Kid 8 H L 124 Talamo Joseph O'Neill Doug F.
7 Kettle Corn 6 H L 124 Espinoza Victor Sadler John W.
8 Byrama (GB) 4 F L 119 Stevens Gary L. Callaghan Simon
9 Dullahan 4 C L 124 Bejarano Rafael Romans Dale L.
10 Delegation 4 G L 124 Contreras Luis Casse Mark E.
11 Game On Dude 6 G L 124 Garcia Martin Baffert Bob
12 Jeranimo 7 H L 124 Nakatani Corey S. Pender Michael
13 Blueskiesnrainbows 4 C L 124 Pedroza Martin A. Hollendorfer Jerry

As you can see Liaison is scratched, he was going to be one of my tosses anyway after his poor finish in the San Diego. Game On Dude gets Martin Garcia after the injury to Joel Rosario. The jockey change is not a big deal because Martin knows Dude as he's ridden him in races before.

Dullahan is 0 for 3 this year with two poor finishes in Dubai. He was third in his last, but the winner of that race could only finish 11th in the Arlington Million. However, he is the defending champ of this race and all of his G1 wins have been on a Polytrack surface. Farraaj is 2-0 on synthetic in Europe and does have a start in the US on turf. Delegation could be one of the more dangerous horses in this race outside of Dude, Dully and Richard, he has a win at this distance. Endorsement had shown promise as a 3yo before an injury hampered Derby dreams, he was second on grass in his last, but the winner of that race was last in the Million. Byrama was third in her last, but she did win a G1 in her start before that. Richard's Kid is a horse who loves longer distances, but might be a touch below this group now at 8. Kettle Corn has the best chance to upset the Dude with his win over Paynter in the San Diego. Holding Glory and You Know I Know where 1-2 in an allowance in their last which the latter won, but is making his stakes debut. The former is a Group 1 winner in his native Brazil. Blueskiesnrainbows just got caught by Richard's Kid in the Cougar II, over a year after Richard's now retired stablemate I'll Have Another passed him the SA Derby (where he finished third). Finally Jeranimo will try to join Best Pal, General Challenge, Free House, Bertrando and Lava Man as the seventh CA bred to win the Pacific Classic. He does have some synthetic wins under his belt, but he is primarly a turf horse.

So who gets the win? Kettle Corn's sire won this race in 2003. 10 years later, I think his son gets the job done. It's really the only thing that is missing from his resume and he should be extremely tough down the stretch. Game On Dude for second and Byrama for third.

Good luck to all and safe travels!!