This year, the 10-furlong Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar will be contested for the 35th time and is once again a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” event for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), set to be held this year over this same track in just two months.
In 2003 Pleasantly Perfect became the first Pacific Classic winner to also earn the title of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner. Accelerate accomplished the same feat in 2018 for the first time in 15 years and in 2022, eventual Horse of the Year Flightline earned top honors in this California feature. They remain the only three horses to have ever completed the Pacific Classic-Breeders’ Cup Classic double.
Since the Pacific Classic was first contested in 1991, a “who’s who” list of talented and historical runners from the handicap division have taken home top honors. California-bred gelding and fan favorite Best Pal, who was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2010, won the inaugural running and since then several other stars and household names have claimed the Pacific Classic victory, including Bertrando, TInners Way (twice), Gentlemen, Free House, Skimming (twice), Lava Man, Game On Dude, Shared Belief, the super mare Beholder, California Chrome, the aforementioned Accelerate, Higher Power, disqualified Derby winner Maximum Security and 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline.
Perhaps the most memorable Pacific Classic was 26 years ago when Dare and Go upset the great Cigar, who was riding a modern-day record for consecutive victories with 16 under his girth. There was some controversy about his defeat at Del Mar and the way rival jockeys rode the race to defeat him rather than win with their own mounts, but Cigar came back to capture that year’s Woodward Stakes (G1) before losing the last two starts of his career, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Flightline’s win was also a record-setter in his final margin of victory was a whopping 19 ¼ lengths over 2022 Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Country Grammer.
The late Hall of Famer Garrett Gomez is tied with Triple Crown winner Mike Smith as the leading jockey for this race with four winners each and in 2020, when Hall of Famer Bob Baffert sent out Maximum Security to victory, he tied the late Bobby Frankel as top trainer, who held the record of six winners. In 2023 Baffert saddled Zedan Racing’s Arabian Knight for the win and he now sits atop all trainers in number of winners with seven. This year he will be represented by Zedan's Nysos.
The late Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm has been represented by four winners to be maintain its status as the race’s leading owner.
Candy Ride still holds the fastest time in 1:59.11 when he carried jockey Julie Krone to victory in 2003. The Hall of Fame rider remains the only female – aside from Beholder in 2015 – to have won the Pacific Classic.
This year’s rendition offers a nice East vs. West matchup in Classic winner and California-based Journalism, who won the Haskell Stakes (G1) last out as the home track favorite, with champion Fierceness trekking to where the turf meets the surf off an uncharacteristic fifth in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at the beginning of the month. Toss in Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) third-place finisher Baeza off a second to Sovereignty in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) last out and the once-defeated San Diego Handicap (G2) winner Nysos and the Pacific Classic field may be one of the best ones in recent history.
The Pacific Classic goes as race 10 with a post time of 6:00 p.m. PT.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
