California-bred flash Masochistic, a sprinter capable of sheer brilliance when he’s on his game, figures to be a solid favorite versus only four rivals Saturday in the Grade II $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar.

 

The seven-furlong sprint, which honors one of the co-founders of racing at Del Mar, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifying event for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

 

Masochistic, a six-year-old gelded son of Sought After owned by Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable and trained by Ron Ellis, will have Tyler Baze in the irons at highweight of 121 pounds when he opposes Outside Nashville ( Martin Garcia), Cautious Giant (Santiago Gonzalez), Vyjack ( Flavien Prat) and Indexical (Mario Gutierrez), all of whom carry 119 pounds.

 

Masochistic, a winner of seven of 12 career efforts and $652,550, was runner-up in the 2015 Bing Crosby and ran in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland last October, a race in which he was injured leaving the gate. After several months off to recover, he returned to competition July 8 at Santa Anita and appeared as formidable as ever in winning a 6 ½ furlong sprint by 6 ¼ lengths in a blazingly fast 1:13 3/5, earning a Beyer speed figure of 107.

 

Making his West Coast debut will be Vyjack, a winner of more than $1.1 million in his career. Now in the barn of trainer Phil D’Amato, the six-year-old gelding most recently was second, beaten a neck, in the Red Bank at a mile on the turf at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. The son of Into Mischief has trained well at Del Mar, including among his workouts six furlongs in 1:10 4/5 August 16.

 

Indexical was second to Lord Nelson in the six-furlong Bing Crosby July 31 and third to Appealing Tale in the 2015 Pat O’Brien.

 

Supporting feature on a ten-race program Saturday will be the $150,000 Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred two-year-old fillies. The six entrants in the six-furlong sprint are Dixie Chick Rocks, You’re Late, Miss Sunset, I’ll Be Around, How About Zero and Rocketann. Likely betting choice is You’re Late, victress in the C.T.B.A. Stakes in decisive fashion July 29.

 

Post time for the first race is 2 p.m.