Masochistic, the overwhelming favorite at 1-5, delivered as expected Saturday with a brilliant front-running victory under jockey Tyler Baze in the featured Grade II $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes.

 

Running versus only two rivals, Masochistic breezed to the front in the first few strides and was on cruise-control for the remainder of the seven-furlong sprint, Baze never uncocking his whip as his mount strolled to the wire three and three-quarter lengths in front of Vyjack, second choice at 5-2, with Indexical a distant third another seven and one-half lengths farther back.

 

Outside Nashville and Cautious Giant were withdrawn from the original field.

 

Masochistic, a six-year-old California-bred gelded son of Sought After, is owned by Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable and is trained by Ron Ellis. His time of 1:20.31 narrowly missed the track record of 1:20 flat set by Solar Launch in the 1990 Real Good Deal Stakes.

 

The Pat O’Brien Stakes is a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. However, Ellis said after the race that Masochistic will be pointed for the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Twin Spires Sprint at six furlongs Saturday, Nov. 5.

 

Earning $120,000 with his O’Brien victory, Masochistic increased his career bankroll to $772,550 with eight wins in 13 starts. To his backers, he paid $2.40. With only three starters, there was no place or show wagering.

 

TYLER BAZE (Masochistic, winner) – “The plan?  Just to go out there and have a good breeze. He’s faster than these horses, so I just wanted to get him out of there and get him in his stride. Then I wanted to stay out of his way. I was a good passenger today. It was a lot of fun.”

FLAVIEN PRAT (Vyjack, second) – “He tried. That other horse (Masochistic) was just too fast. But his (Vyjack’s) next race will be longer. That will be good for him.”

INDEXICAL (Mario Gutierrez, third) – “What are you going to do?”

RON ELLIS  (Masochistic, winner) -- “I didn’t have any anxious moments during the running of the race. Tyler got him to relax beautifully coming out of there and they were just loping along. He disappointed at this track last year at low odds (second, Bing Crosby) but this year he’s a different horse. Last year he just wanted to run as fast and as far as he could. This year he’s really conserving his energy and I think he can go even farther. Now we’ve got nine weeks to the Breeders’ Cup and we’ll train him up for the Sprint. ” 

 

 

FRACTIONS:   :22.65  :45.01  1:08.22  1:20.31

 

The time is .31 off the track record of 1:20 established by Solar Launch in the Real Good Deal Stakes in 1990. That record was subsequently tied in the Pat O’Brien in 1995 by Lit De Justice.

 

The stakes win was the third stakes win of the meeting for rider Baze and his second (Kela in 2004) in the Pat O’Brien. He now has 28 stakes wins at Del Mar.

 

The stakes win was the second of the meet for trainer Ellis and his second (Bold Brawley in 1986, the first year the race was run) in the Pat O’Brien. He now has 20 stakes wins at Del Mar.