The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com)The 1 1/8-mile race on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course will close out a Grade I weekend for the seaside track. On Saturday, the Grade I, $313,500 Ramona Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles will be run on the Durante turf course.
Set to take on Fastness are Gary A. Tanaka's Gold and Steel, Herbert Allen's Smooth Runner, Henry Pabst's Earl of Barking, Rescigno and Virgo's Rising Corp.'s Big Sky Jim, and Cohen, No Problem Stable and Red Baron's Wavy Run.
Fastness will carry high weight of 124 pounds, spotting his rivals from six to 12 pounds. Though confident Fastness will give a good accounting of himself, trainer Sahadi said, "You're always vulnerable when you are the highweight. I think it's going to be a very contentious bunch of horses. I think it's a competitive race and we'll be giving away weight to some nice horses."
Here's the way the field will line up from the rail, with weight and riders: Wavy Run, 114, Patrick Valenzuela; Earl of Barking, 115, G.F. Almeida; Gold and Steel, 118, Alex Solis; Big Sky Jim, 112, Brice Blanc; Smooth Runner, 114, Chris McCarron; and Fastness, Corey Nakatani.
PACIFIC CLASSIC CANDIDATES ROLL ON TOWARD HISTORIC MEETING
Hollywood Gold Cup winner Siphon clocked "an easy mile" in 1:42 3/5 for trainer Richard Mandella Friday morning as the 5-year-old Brazilian-bred continued to train toward Del Mar's sixth running of the Grade I, $1,000,000 Pacific Classic Saturday, August 10. He'll be one of a possible six to challenge Cigar's attempt to set a modern-day victory record of 17 straight in the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic.
Mandella called for an easy mile and exercise rider Marc Blanc gave him just that with Siphon, who is owned by Rio Claro Thoroughbreds. "He went real well," Mandella said after the workout midway through training hours. "He'll have a little blowout before the race, something shorter," the trainer added.
Mandella said his other Pacific Classic candidate, Soul of the Matter, who gave Cigar perhaps his sternest test in a long time before losing by half a length in the Dubai Cup March 27, "is doing very good. Eveything is good. He's training good and he's in real good shape." Soul of the Matter worked a sharp mile in 1:36 4/5 on Thursday, and came out of the work in good order, Mandella said.
Meanwhile, at Saratoga Racecourse in New York, Cigar had a routine training day under the watchful eye of trainer W.I. "Bill" Mott. "Cigar is fine; he's doing well. He went to the track and galloped a mile and a half," Mott said from his barn Friday morning.
Shipping plans for the 6-year-old son of Palace Music call for him to be flown out of New York early Thursday morning, August 8, with arrival at Ontario, CA., airport expected late in the morning. The horse will be vanned to Del Mar, with an estimated arrival time between 2 and 3 p.m. Mott will fly in with the horse, who will be stabled in Bill Shoemaker's barn at the seaside course.
Juddmonte Farms' Tinners Way, winner of the past two Pacific Classics and who - with a victory this year - would be the first horse to ever win the same million-dollar race three times, arrived at Del Mar Thursday afternoon from trainer Robert Frankel's Hollywood Park barn. The 6-year-old son of Secretariat jogged the Del Mar track Friday morning. He worked 6 furlongs in 1:14 1/5 at Hollywood Park Wednesday, with a final work expected by midweek next week.
Sunday workouts are scheduled for both Helmsman and Luthier Fever, the only horses who will be eligible for the MGM Grand Classic Crown bonus offered for participation in the three races making up the "Crown" - Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic.
Trainer Wallace Dollase said Helmsman, a 4-year-old son of El Gran Senor who made his American debut a winning one last summer on Del Mar's closing day, would work 7 furlongs, with regular exercise Roman Ocequera. Dollase said Sunday's work would be the colt's final for the Pacific Classic. He galloped on the training track Friday and is scheduled to gallop on the main track Saturday.
For Luthier Fever, the work on Sunday will be 5 furlongs under Brice Blanc, who gets the call to ride the California-bred horse owned by Cuadra TYT of Mexico City in the Classic. Blanc rode him to a second-place finish in the Santa Anita Handicap, but was not aboard when Luthier Fever finished last in the Hollywood Gold Cup. Trainer Eduardo Inda, who took over the training of the horse after the Gold Cup, said he expects a much better race this time. "He's doing very well," Inda said. Luthier Fever galloped 1 3/8 miles Friday.
Still on the fence about running is Golden Eagle Farm's Dramatic Gold, who finished a strong second to Cigar in the 1 1/8-mile Arlington Citation Challenge July 13 at Arlington International Racecourse, in which Cigar tied Citation's record of 16 successive victories to set up his historic run in the Pacific Classic.
"We're still weighing the situation," trainer David Hofmans said Friday morning. "We're keeping our options open." The decision will come from Golden Eagle owners John and Betty Mabee, who also bred the son of Slew o' Gold.
The bay gelding galloped a mile Friday and is scheduled to double that on Saturday, said Hofmans. The trainer plans a short work on Wednesday, which is entry day for the race. If Dramatic Gold is entered, Hofmans said, Chris Antley will ride.
CIGAR OWNER PAULSON TO MEET THE PRESS AT DEL MAR ON MONDAY
Allen Paulson, owner and breeder of reigning Horse of the Year Cigar, will hold an informal press conference for members of the media Monday at 11:30 a.m. in the press box at Del Mar racetrack. Cigar is the focus of the Thoroughbred world as he goes for a modern-day record of 17 straight victories in Del Mar's $1,000,000 Pacific Classic on Saturday, August 10.
Those media members interested in attending should contact the Marketing and Media Department at Del Mar.
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