Bob Baffert has made more history at Del Mar than he probably even realizes.
Most victories by a trainer. Most stakes victories. Most wins in multiple major races, including a staggering 17 in the Del Mar Futurity, 10 in the Del Mar Debutante and seven in the track’s richest race, the $1 million Pacific Classic.
But even at 71, there’s always more history for Baffert to chase. And Saturday’s Pacific Classic offers the Racing Hall of Famer the chance to do something else unprecedented.
Through the 33 years the Classic has been run as the third leg of California’s older horse “triple crown,” along with the Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup (which switched to Santa Anita in 2014 after Hollywood Park closed), three trainers have won all three 1 ¼-mile races with the same horse in the same year — Doug O’Neill with Lava Man (2006), Baffert with Game On Dude (2013) and John Sadler with Accelerate (2018).
No trainer, however, has swept the series with three horses. Richard Mandella (1997) and Baffert (2011) won the first two legs with different horses, but neither trainer ran a different horse in the Pacific Classic.
Now Baffert has another shot. He won the Big ’Cap in March with Newgate and the Gold Cup in May with Mr. Fisk, but with both those horses unavailable this week — Newgate only recently resumed training following a break while Mr. Fisk was injured in his victory — and last year’s Pacific Classic winner, Arabian Knight, recently retired, Baffert is doing something he’s never done in an attempt to do something no one’s never done.
On Tuesday he entered the 5-year-old mare Adare Manor to run against the boys — a first for him in the Classic. The daughter of Uncle Mo, who was assigned the No. 7 post in Tuesday’s draw, is the 9-5 favorite on Jeff Siegel’s morning line as she attempts to join Hall of Famer Beholder as the only female to win the Pacific Classic.
Beholder, who dominated the 2015 Classic by 8 1/4 lengths, came back the next year and finished second behind California Chrome. But no female has tried since, and the four who preceded Beholder all finished fifth or worse.
Adare Manor, who will be ridden by her usual jockey, Del Mar leader Juan Hernandez, has won 10 of 18 career starts — including eight of her last 10. She has three Grade 1 victories, with two coming at Del Mar. But she has never faced males, nor raced farther than 1 1/8 miles.
She’s also never defeated a great field, though based on past accomplishments it doesn’t appear she’ll be facing one Saturday, either. The 5-2 second choice on the morning line is Dr. Venkman, a talented 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper who has raced just five times, with only his last race, a win in the San Diego Handicap here at 1 1/16 miles, contested past seven furlongs.
The 5-1 third choice, Il Miracolo, has a win, a second and two thirds in Grade 2 and Grade 3 races this year but was seventh in his only try beyond nine furlongs (in last year’s Belmont). However, his sire, Gun Runner, won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
Reincarnate, also from Baffert’s barn, hasn’t won in more than a year, though he was second in this year’s Gold Cup and third in the Big ’Cap. There Goes Harvard and Full Serrano have won at 1 ¼ miles, but the former did it more than two years ago and hasn’t finished better than fourth in five starts since, and the latter’s win came in a minor stakes race in Argentina. (Full Serrano’s trainer, Sadler, has won the Classic four times in the past six years.)
Saturday’s winner will receive an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
The full field in post-position order for the Pacific Classic, which goes as the 10th race at about 6:05 p.m.: Il Miracolo (jockey Mike Smith, 5-1); There Goes Harvard (Hector Berrios, 15-1); Dr. Venkman (Antonio Fresu, 5-2); Reincarnate (Kazushi Kimura, 8-1); Katonah (Tiago Pereira, 8-1); Full Serrano (Reylu Gutierrez, 12-1); Adare Manor (Juan Hernandez, 9-5); None Above the Law (Jeremy Laprida, 20-1); Mixto (Kyle Frey, 20-1).
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