Another stakes-packed weekend is planned for next week at Del Mar, week four of the eight-week summer meet. Three of the four stakes races are graded and two of those are the first graded stakes for juveniles this season.
It all starts Friday with the $100,000 Graduation Stakes for 2-year-old Cal-breds going 5 ½ furlongs on the main track. Eight colts and geldings are entered in the race including Net Par, a very impressive maiden winner on opening weekend for trainer Antonio Garcia. The son of Pavel won by seven widening lengths.
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A stakes doubleheader is on tap for Saturday at Del Mar with the first of the meet’s juvenile graded stakes. The G3 Best Pal pits some of the more promising 2-year-olds on the grounds. Trainer Bob Baffert has his colt Hughes eyeing a run in the Best Pal. The son of Into Mischief broke his maiden at first asking by six lengths at Los Alamitos in June.
Nine 2-year-olds, including two fillies from trainer Wesley Ward’s barn, have been nominated for the 56th running of the Best Pal. The six-furlong sprint on the main track is considered the local prep for the G1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on September 6.
The lone stake race for older horses next weekend is the G2 Yellow Ribbon on Saturday. Fillies and mares will go a mile and a sixteenth on the Jimmy Durante turf course. Thought Process, winner of last year’s G2 San Clemente at Del Mar and this year’s G1 Gamely at Santa Anita, leads the 22 nominations that include shippers from the barns of H. Graham Motion, Michael Maker, Vicki Oliver and Jose D’Angelo.
Sunday’s feature is the G3 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. It’s the local prep for the G1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutant on September 5. The 12 nominations for the six-furlong sprint on the main track include Holmby, a first-time winner on opening weekend for Baffert.
Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday. First post daily is 2 p.m.
McCarthy Considers Malarchuk for G1 Pacific Classic
Trainer Michael McCarthy is thinking about running one of his horses in this year’s G1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on August 22. Malarchuk, a 5-year-old son of Nyquist, finished a distant second in the G2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita in his last start. He was beaten by Forged Steel by 9 ½ lengths.
“I thought he ran okay,” McCarthy says. “Beaten a fair ways. I thought it was a respectable performance.”
Malarchuk did beat Mc Vay, by a nose, and Subsanador in the Gold Cup, two other horses being considered for the Pacific Classic.
“We’re going to give it a thought,” McCarthy states. “We’ll nominate him to a couple of spots. He’ll work again one more time and then we’ll come up with a game plan for (owners) Mr. (Paul) Reddam and Eric Johnson. Sort of feel our way out and see what happens with the competition.”
McCarthy has run a horse in the Pacific Classic four times with his best finish coming last year with Journalism, who ran second to Fierceness.
“It would be great (to win),” McCarthy notes. “It’s a marquee race in California. It’s on the list.”
Malarchuk brings the number of horses “possible” for the 36th running of the Pacific Classic to nine. The others, in no particular order, are Knightsbridge, Forged Steel, Mc Vay, Subsanador, Full Serrano, Finger and The Goat.
