Flightline © Benoit Photo

FLIGHTLINE BREEZES IN FINAL PREP FOR TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC

The horse everyone will be watching and quite possibly betting next Saturday put in another eye-catching work Saturday morning at Del Mar, not so much for the speed at which he glided around the track, but at how effortless it appeared.

Flightline set fractions of :12.80, :24.60, :36.40, and stopped the clock at 59.60 for the five furlongs. Not bad for a work that trainer John Sadler termed “soft.”

“Last work today, it was very nice,” Sadler said afterward. “The idea today was not go very hard a week out. So what we try to do is just maintain his rhythm, keep him in the same place he’s been in. We were thrilled. He did a minute effortlessly and he’s essentially ready.”

His time was the fifth best of 73 other five furlong works this morning which bodes the question, if today was ‘soft’ what’s going to happen when he’s really asked to run?

“That’s what’s so exciting,” Sadler says. “You look at the works and think ‘Oh, he’s working fast,’ but in reality he’s well within himself.”

Flightline’s stablemate, Heywoods Beach, will not run in the TVG Pacific Classic. Sadler nominated last month’s G3 Cougar II winner for the Classic, but is opting instead to run him in the G2 Del Mar Handicap on the Classic undercard.

Country Grammer, who is being pointed to the TVG Pacific Classic, also put in his final work Saturday morning, going five furlongs in 1:00.

“I like the way he went,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He went nice for him. He’s not going to really light it up in the morning but he runs in the afternoon.”

Baffert also said Taiba, a surprise nomination for the TVG Pacific Classic, will probably not go in the race.

“This time of year you just nominate them everywhere to give you options,” Baffert says. “I nominated him just in case. Things happen and you never say never but the complexion of the race would have to change.”

Taiba, the Santa Anita Derby winner, is also nominated for the Shared Belief on the Classic undercard.

Among other TVG Pacific Classic nominees who worked Saturday was Express Train from the John Shirreffs barn. The Santa Anita Handicap winner worked six furlongs in 1:12.80. Additionally, trainer Richard Mandella worked Extra Hope six furlongs in a bullet 1:12.00 and Ed Moger sent out Stilleto Boy on a five-furlong work in 1:00.00

The post position draw for the $1 million, G1 TVG Pacific Classic will be held Tuesday around 4 P.M. The race is Saturday, September 3.

EDGEWAY RETURNS TO DEFEND TITLE IN G3 RANCHO BERNARDO SUNDAY

A six-pack of speedsters will go to the post for the 51^st running of the G3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap, a six and a half-furlong sprint on the dirt at Del Mar Sunday. Last year’s winner is back.

Hronis Racing’s Edgeway was too good for the compact field of four in last year’s Rancho Bernardo, outdueling Stellar Sound and breaking loose in the last sixteenth of a mile to win handily. Two and a half months later, the daughter of Competitive Edge was runner-up to Ce Ce in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar, besting heavy favorite Gamine, who finished third.

Edgeway would hold her form into the new year, winning the $75,000 Kalookan Queen in January and the G3 Las Flores in March, both at Santa Anita. Trainer John Sadler decided to throw her in the deep end and shipped her back to Churchill Downs on Derby Day for the G1 Derby City Distaff. She finished sixth.

“Her last race wasn’t that good,” Sadler admits. “She ran a very tough race at Churchill, got stuck in a speed duel, but she’ll be good here.”

Sadler likes the way Edgeway has looked in the morning.

“She’s coming off of a freshening but she’s training super down here,” Sadler says. “She’s been going great on it (the track). She’s last year’s winner so she’s out to defend her crown and she looks great.”

Edgeway will have her hands full with Baoma’s Private Mission, a multiple-graded stakes winner who is shortening up for the Rancho Bernardo. The two met earlier this year in the Las Flores and Edgeway got the best of the deal, defeating the daughter of Into Mischief by seven lengths.

Private Mission would rebound off that race, stretching out to a mile and a sixteenth and winning the G2 Santa Maria at Santa Anita in June but she set the pace and faded to last in the G1 Clement Hirsch last month at Del Mar.

“We were disappointed in her last race,” Baffert says. “She came back and worked well and I thought that this might be a good spot for her.”

Private Mission may be best known for hooking up with Letruska and cooking the heavy favorite in a grueling pace duel in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last year.

“We think she had PTSD after the Breeders’ Cup last year when she went so fast,” Baffert says with a smile.

Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal’s Dance to the Music ran a game second to the highly touted Becca Taylor in the G3 Desert Stormer at Santa Anita in June, but got into trouble in an allowance race at Del Mar last month and finished fifth.

“She got left and got dirt in her face,” trainer Mark Glatt says. “She’s not the type that’s going to run that way so I think the race is a throw out.”

The winner of that allowance race, Fincher Racing, et al’s Slammed, wired the field and won by five lengths in her first race ever at Del Mar. The 4-year-old filly had raced entirely in New Mexico previously and comes out of the Todd Fincher barn.

“I wanted a little stiffer work last time but other that she’s ready to roll,” Fincher says. “She already got one solid race here so she should be plenty fit.”

The G3 Rancho Bernardo goes off as the eighth race on the nine-race Sunday program.

Here’s the field for the Rancho Bernardo from the rail with jockeys: Empire House (Ricardo Gonzalez); Cover Version (Ryan Curatolo); Dance to the Music (Abel Cedillo); Slammed (Drayden Van Dyke); Edgeway (Juan Hernandez), and Private Mission (Mike Smith).

WONG SCORES FIRST HAT TRICK AT DEL MAR THURSDAY

Jonathan Wong has been coming to Del Mar since 2015, not long after he started training. He has never done what he did Thursday. Wong won three races on a single card.

Winning in bunches is not new to Wong. He’s been a leading trainer up at Golden Gate Fields for the past few years. But making three separate trips to the Del Mar winner’s circle on the same day is new to him.

“We got lucky, the horses ran really well,” Wong said afterward. “I thought they all had a chance but I thought the horse in the first was our best shot.”

That would be Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ Prayer for Jabeez, a 3-year-old gelded son of Stanford who rolled home much the best in the $16,000 claimer. He kept it going in the second race, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies, with first time starter Sally’s Sassy, another Tommy Town horse who drew into the race off of the also eligible list.

“She had trained really well but I thought she wanted to go farther than five-eights,” Wong said. “But she got a perfect trip and he (Ricky Gonzalez) rode her great.”

Wong had to wait until the seventh race to complete the hat trick. Brent Mainstrom’s Cees Get Degrees wired the field of $32,000 claimers.

“Diego (Herrera) rode the hair off of that horse,” Wong said. “He rode him the whole way. That horse trained really good but he never showed up in the afternoon so that was nice to see him put it together.”

Wong says all three came out of their races in good order and will probably show up next at Santa Anita. The three win day vaulted Wong into a seventh place tie with Mark Glatt in the trainer standings. He has eight victories from 36 starts at the meet.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Wong quickly looked forward to the next day’s card, “Maybe we can get three more today,” he said.

McANALLY TO RECEIVE PINCAY AWARD TODAY AT DEL MAR     

Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally will be honored with the prestigious Pincay Award at Del Mar today. The ceremony will take place in the winner’s circle after the fourth race.

McAnally has been coming to Del Mar for a remarkable 74 years, starting out as a hot walker for his uncle and for decades afterward as a trainer. It’s an unprecedented achievement that is a testament to his work with the horses and the respect the horse community has for him.

McAnally has trained some the best horses ever such as Hall of Famers John Henry, Bayakoa and Paseana. He ranks fourth all-time at Del Mar in wins by a trainer with 448 and third in stakes races with 77. He won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in 1981, 1991 and 1992 and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1990.

Despite all the accolades, the Pincay Award is still something special to McAnally because Laffit Pincay, Jr. rode for him for many years. In fact, the two still hang out together.

“I work out in the gym with him,” the 90-year old McAnally says, “and I tell everybody, he (Pincay) could ride tomorrow. He’s kept his weight down real good.”

McAnally is expected to be joined at the ceremony by his wife Debbie. Mike Smith, who received the honor in 2017, is among others expected to attend.

The Pincay Award is given to those who serve the sport with “integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.” McAnally is the 18^th recipient of the award. Past winners have included Mel and Warren Stute, Jerry and Ann Moss, Art Sherman, Eddie Delahoussaye, Chris McCarron and Julie Krone.

COOLING OUT: Notable works on Saturday: Dirt -- Avenue de France (4f, 51.40); Havnameltdown (4f, 49.20); Justique (4f, 48.40); Vegas Magic (4f, 49.40); Armagnac (5f, 1:00.00); Astronaut (5f, 1:00.00); Beyond Brilliant (5f, 1:01.20); Desert Dawn (5f, 1:00.00); Grace Adler (5f, 1:01.20); Mackinnon (5f, :59.20); Slow Down Andy (6f, 1:12.00) and High Connection (6f, 1:12.00). A total of 197 horses put in official works Saturday.

Del Mar Statistics

Jockey Standings
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2022 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2022 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2022 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 71 out of 196 -- 36.22%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 44 out of 108 -- 40.74%
Winning favorites on turf -- 27 out of 88 -- 30.68%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 13 out of 30   -- 43.33%
In-the-Money favorites -- 148 out of 196 -- 75.51%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 26 out of 30 -- 86.67%