To celebrate California Chrome’s victory in Saturday’s $1 million TVG Pacific Classic, trainer Art Sherman dined on Chinese food at Chin’s Restaurant, a favorite place of his near his Rancho Bernardo home.

 

“It’s the only place open at 10 at night in Rancho Bernardo,” Sherman said Sunday morning. “It’s a good place to eat and we had 15 people, but I thought ‘My God, I don’t ever eat this late.’”

 

The 79-year-old was up and at his barn at Del Mar by 5 a.m., and had some time alone with the $13.25 million money earner, a five-length wire-to-wire winner over Beholder in 2:00.13 for 1 ¼ miles in the Classic. 

 

“He looked good, I went over him, knees, ankles, everything was tight, everything looked good,” Sherman said.

 

It didn’t take long for the horse’s followers, “Chromies” whether they are camp insiders or outsiders – to show up. And by 7 a.m., more than an hour before California Chrome boarded a van for his Los Alamitos home base, there were a couple dozen gathered to watch final preparations for his departure. Chrome got a massage from a machine, some pampering and a lot of attention before being escorted to the van, with Sherman and jockey Victor Espinoza in the trailing entourage.

 

“I knew at the 3/8ths pole the race was over and Victor said he geared him down the last 16^th of a mile,” Sherman said.  “If he would have rode him out there’s no doubt he would have been close to the track record. But this was great. I’m not looking for track records. Let him come back well. We’ve got some serious races ahead this year with the Breeders’ Cup Classic being the final goal.

 

“He’s just a once-in-a-lifetime horse and I’m just lucky to get him,” Sherman said. ”Right now, he’s the best horse in the world. I wouldn’t be afraid to run him against anybody.”

 

 

Hall of Fame trainers Richard Mandella, whose champion mare Beholder finished second, and Bob Baffert, who recorded a 3-4 finish with Dortmund and Hoppertunity, said their horses came out of the Pacific Classic in good order. And had praise for victorious California Chrome, trainer Art Sherman and jockey Victor Espinoza.

 

“The winner was awesome,” Mandella said. “(Beholder) ran well. Gary (Stevens) could see that she wasn’t going to beat California Chrome, so he got second and we’re very proud of the race she ran. She seems to be fine this morning, although we haven’t gotten her out of bed yet.

 

“Art’s done a great job with his horse and he deserves all the accolades. (California Chrome) wasn’t going to take any beating yesterday,” Mandella continued. “He was the man. We were it last year, but he was it yesterday.”

 

The morning after Beholder’s impressive triumph in the 2015 TVG Pacific Classic, Mandella indicated another race against males, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, was a possibility. It stayed that way until two days before the race, when Beholder was found to have bled in a workout and Mandella called off a highly-anticipated showdown with American Pharoah.

 

“We’re not ready to take on the world (with Beholder) like we were last year (after the Pacific Classic). But she’s still pretty good,” Mandella said. “We’ll leave it all open for a little while, but we may go a little more conservative into the Breeders’ Cup. But we’re not going to shut any doors today.”

 

Baffert said Dortmund and Hoppertunity both came out of the race well.

 

“It was a good day of racing,” Baffert said. “A lot of people showed up (24,155 on track), my horses showed up and ran well. But it wasn’t really the race we were expecting. We didn’t want to go too fast (early) but then when California Chrome got away and was just cruising, we were all running for second.

 

“Riding American Pharoah moved Victor up a notch. I’d tell him, ‘You’re on the best horse, take it to ‘em’ and that’s what he did (in the Classic).”

 

 

 

The two races leading up to the TVG Pacific Classic could have been titled “The Gary Stevens Show.”

 

The Hall of Fame rider, 53, notched a what once looked impossible come-from-behind victory on Coldspell for Eoin Harty in the seventh, edging My Prince Harry and Stewart Elliott in the final strides. In the next race, the Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Handicap, Stevens sensed a slow pace, even for a 1 3/8-mile race, stole away to a six length lead through three-quarters of a mile, and saved just enough to stave off a flying Metaboss and Rafael Bejarano by a nose at the wire.

 

“Coldspell, I liked going into the race, Eoin had done a great job of preparing him,” Stevens said. “But the ground broke out from under him at the start, he stumbled and (My Prince Harry) came over when my horse got up, he clipped heels. I thought ‘Well, there that goes.’”

 

Rather than engage in what turned out to be a draining pace battle, Stevens settled his horse behind.

 

“I hit the turn thinking I could pass a few horses,” Stevens said. “Then when I swung him out at the eighth pole, I thought ‘Man, I could win this thing.’” Which he did.

 

“That was pretty cool for Eoin and the Godolphin representatives here, and it got me in a good mood for the next race,” Stevens said.

 

The Del Mar Handicap ride aboard Ashleyluvssugar,

 

“When you’re riding horses that cooperate with you, it makes my job a lot easier,” Stevens said. “Peter (Eurton) did a great training job and ‘Ashley’ ran his eyeballs out.

 

“When we went past the finish line the first time we were going too slow, and in those caliber of races it’s really difficult to go gate to wire. But Pete and his crew did a great job having him ready.”

 

Then came the TVG Pacific Classic and a runner-up with defending champion Beholder?

 

“I’m really proud of her,” Stevens said. “That was a phenomenal race for California Chrome. The race for the win was over 50 yards out of the gate. He was cruising, for him, and I couldn’t risk going up to challenge and then not getting a piece of it. I’m happy with her performance. Nobody was going to beat him yesterday.”

 

 

 

Jockey Victor Espinoza will not ride here next week. He’s off to Japan to participate in the World All Star Jockey competition next weekend at Sapporo Race Course.

 

Produced by the Japan Racing Association – the group that presented Saturday’s Del Mar Handicap – the competition features jockeys from around the globe over a two-day period.

 

“He finished second in it in 2001,” said Espinoza’s agent, Brian Beach. “He’s been offered the opportunity again the last couple years but this year the timing is better, coming after the Pacific Classic.”

 

Espinoza will resume riding here on Wednesday, August 31. He has two mounts on the Sunday program and enters the day with a meeting line of 53 starts, 13-8-8 for a win rate of 25 percent and in-the-money mark of 55 percent. The highest win percentage and co-highest in-the-money of the meeting.

 

An interesting aspect of the third race on Wednesday’s card. Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis and his apprentice son Austin will be riding against each other, Alex on Never Say Try for Jerry Hollendorfer and Austin on Pulla Train for J. Eric Kruljac.

 

Equibase statistics show Alex with 5,031 career wins from 33,948 mounts and Austin with 12 from 277 starts.

 

 

For the first time in its 20-year history, the Harry F. Brubaker Stakes, the $75,000 feature  on Wednesday’s program, has been split into two divisions.

 

The race is named for Harry F. “Bud” Brubaker, a 50-year  fixture at Del Mar, the last 25 as Director of Operations, before his passing in 1995. Brubaker was also a National Football League official from 1950-70 and officiated in the 1968 NFL Championship game won by Baltimore over Cleveland.

 

Twenty-two horses were nominated for the one mile main track event, and when 15 of the names were advanced to the entry box, racing officials decided to break it into divisions which will go as the fifth and seventh on an eight-race card.

 

The first division was to have featured Firing Line, the runner-up to American Pharoah in the 2015 Kentucky Derby in a field of seven. But trainer Simon Callaghan said Sunday that Firing Line, a 4-year-old son of Line of David owned by Arnold Zetcher, will be scratched due to a muscle strain.

 

The first division field from the rail: Kristo (Tyler Baze), Grazen Sky (Mike Smith), Solid Wager (Martin Pedroza), Crittenden (Santiago Gonzalez), Soi Phet (Kent Desormeaux) and The Gomper (Mario Gutierrez),   

 

The second division from the rail: Conquest Cobra (Santiago Gonzalez), Magic Mark (Drayden Van Dyke), Songforjohnmichael (Joe Talamo), War Envoy (Martin Garcia), Smart Transition (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Lieutenant Colonel (Rafael Bejarano),  Blue Tone (Kent Desormeaux) and Avanti Bello (Flavien Prat).

  

 

CLOSERS – Of the five perfect Pick Six tickets Saturday, which paid  $104,655.40 each, two were purchased on track here. The base price of one was $16,128, the other was $2 … Selected works from 201 on the main track and 34 on turf officially timed Sunday morning: Dirt --  Big Cazanova (4f, :48.60), Justin Squared (4f, :47.00), Papacoolpapacool (4f, :48.00), Avenge (5f, 1:01.00), Cairo Healer (5f, :58.40), Life’s Blessing (5f, :58.40), Mrazek (5f, 1:00.00), Arrogate (6f, 1:11.80); Turf – Elektrum (4f, :51.00), Finest City (4f, :51.20), Path of David (4f, :49.00), Nancy From Nairobi (5f, 1:00.00), Obviously (5f, 1:01.00) and Entrechat (6f,  1:14.80) … Songbird, who notched her 10^th straight victory in Saturday’s Alabama Stakes at Saratoga under Mike Smith, will be back at her stall at Del Mar on Monday for some R&R and early training for whatever’s next, said Dan Ward, assistant to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

 

 

 

(Current Through Saturday, August 20, 2016 Inclusive)

Jockey	Mts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Flavien Prat	140	27	20	15	19%	44%	$1,685,845
Santiago Gonzalez	152	22	26	19	14%	44%	$1,120,629
Rafael Bejarano	116	22	23	19	19%	55%	$1,557,191
Kent Desormeaux	100	17	19	13	17%	49%	$1,079,068
Tyler Baze	130	14	19	23	11%	43%	$899,663
Victor Espinoza	53	13	8	8	25%	55%	$1,478,913
Stewart Elliott	72	10	7	7	14%	33%	$410,930
Mario Gutierrez	75	9	9	11	12%	39%	$663,002
Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	70	9	9	9	13%	39%	$473,487
Gary Stevens	44	9	6	1	20%	36%	$865,924

 

 

(Current Through Saturday, August 20, 2016 Inclusive)

Trainer	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Philip D'Amato	69	14	8	9	20%	45%	$935,727
Bob Baffert	49	11	10	6	22%	55%	$1,093,540
Richard Baltas	56	11	10	6	20%	48%	$672,941
Peter Miller	67	9	11	10	13%	45%	$552,540
Mark Glatt	38	9	7	8	24%	63%	$340,574
John W. Sadler	44	9	6	8	20%	52%	$656,190
Michael Machowsky	18	8	0	1	44%	50%	$236,965
Doug F. O'Neill	92	7	11	13	8%	34%	$517,880
James M. Cassidy	36	7	3	6	19%	44%	$379,062
Richard E. Mandella	23	6	4	1	26%	48%	$619,422

 

(Current Through Saturday, August 20, 2016 Inclusive)

 

Winning favorites -- 81 out of 238 -- 34.03%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 56 out of 152 -- 36.84%

Winning favorites on turf -- 25 out of 86 -- 29.07%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 15 out of 32 -- 46.88%

In-the-Money favorites -- 165 out of 238 -- 69.33%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 25 out of 32 -- 78.13%

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793