A field of 11 runners – led by six out-of-towners, one of them from Japan, as well as a filly – were entered to run Sunday in next Saturday’s 36th edition of the $1-million Pacific Classic, the Grade I highlight of a four-stakes afternoon at the seaside oval.
Del Mar’s morning line maker, John Lies, has hung Godolphin’s Knightsbridge the 5/2 favorite in the mile and a quarter Classic, which is a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Classic that will be run on October 31 at Keeneland in Kentucky.
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Knightsbridge, a 5-year-old horse owned and bred by the Godolphin empire and racing out of the barn of trainer Billy Mott, has been shipped in from Saratoga following his galloping win in the Monmouth Cup at the Jersey shore track on July 18 in extremely rapid time.
Second-favorite in the race is C2 Racing Stable or Mathis Stables’ Forged Steel, another eastern shipper but one with some west coast history under his belt. The 4-year-old Vekoma colt came to Santa Anita in May and took down the Grade II Gold Cup by nearly 10 lengths at the same mile and a quarter distance he’ll be tasked with Saturday. He’s listed at 5-1.
Next on the Classic line is yet another invader – Wathnan Racing’s Hit Show, a 6-year-old Candy Ride horse who has won more than $9 million in purses and a dozen races during a stellar career. He’s in from New York also for trainer Brad Cox and has been made third choice in the lineup at 6-1.
Here’s the full Pacific Classic lineup in post position order with riders and morning line odds:
Strong Undercard on Pacific Classic Day
Next Saturday not only features the only $1 million race in the west, but a feast of graded stakes action. This year’s Pacific Classic undercard includes the G1 Del Mar Oaks, the G2 Del Mar Mile, and the G2 Green Flash, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
This is the first year since 2021 the Oaks has been paired up with the Classic. The past four years, the fillies race stood alone on its own weekend. But when the Pacific Classic was moved up on the calendar this year it became a natural fit.
There are 13 fillies nominated for $300,000 Oaks, including a winner at Royal Ascot Green Carrera; G1 Belmont Oaks winner Kensington Lane, and G2 San Clemente winner Somerset West. They’ll be going a mile and an eighth on the grass.
Formidable Man is being pointed to a defense his title in the G2 Del Mar Mile, which is also part of the Pacific Classic undercard. Eighteen horses have been nominated for the Mile, including Cabo Spirit, who beat Formidable Man by a shortening head in the G2 Eddie Read last month (7-26).
The last of the graded stakes next Saturday will be the quickest. It’s the G2 Green Flash, a five-furlong turf sprint. Fifteen horses are nominated for the race including three-time winner Motorious, who first won it in 2023, then repeated in 2024. Last year he finished second but got moved up by the disqualification of the horse first across the line, Reef Runner.
Motorious will be seeking his fourth straight win in the race, a first for the Green Flash but not unprecedented at Del Mar or for his trainer Philip D’Amato. You only need to look a few stalls down from where Motorious is housed in the D’Amato barn to find a horse who has won a particular stakes race four different times at the seaside oval. That would be Gold Phoenix in the Del Mar Handicap.
The stakes action is not limited to Pacific Classic Day next weekend. On Sunday it’s the 82nd edition of the Del Mar Derby, a mile and an eighth turf test. Twenty 3-year-olds are nominated for the race including a pair of Del Mar stakes winners already at the meet: He’s a Knockout the Cal-bred who won the Real Good Deal Stakes last month and Proletariat, winner of the Oceanside Stakes on opening day.
There’s also the filly Green Carrera should her connections decide not go in the Oaks and Mr. A.P., runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.
