Pacific Classic – Grade I
1 1/4 Miles Dirt Stake Purse $1,000.000 Three-Year-Olds And Up. At DMR
Pacific Classic goes all the way back to 2004 and is steeped in the history of HRP. The first winner of the race was Miller Stables who left the game in 2006, years before his horse future Hall of Famer Little Slick retired, finishing his career under the training of first Jerry Garcia Racing and later Australia Wide. The following year the race went to the super horse of super horses, Jerry Garcia Racing’s Icicle. And it goes on like that the elite of the trainers and the class of the racehorses. This year’s field is an interesting combination of old pros struggling to stay on top, others looking to make their mark after some time at the battle and some young Turks ready for battle. I think that this is the year for old stalwart Baffert to notch another long overdue win. I’m sure that Wahpekute Sioux’s connections are worried about the unexpected loss in The Whitney, but I’m betting it was just an anomaly, and I think everyone is interested to see what the three-year-old Keto is going to do in only his fourth race.
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Baffert Royalty Stables 5-1 99
Wahpekute Sioux Mb Stables *3-1 98
All Take Alydar Stables 4-1 100
Frenchman Luz International 8-1 99
Evgenii Night Rider Stables 6-1 99
Everythings Fine TwinTowersRacing 8-1 94
Diventare Invicta Group Llc 8-1 99
No More Rattle Bigchief Stables 10-1 96
Decal Williams9 15-1 92
1 Diventare Invicta Group Llc 99
Kind of a strange trip for Diventare to get here: He was a well-respected prospect when they unwrapped the package, and he broke his maiden at WO in his second, immediately entered in a grade three before running third in the $150.000 ELP Juvenile. Shortly thereafter, his connections wasted him by gelding him. He wandered about until Maxmillion Farm let him go for $10.000, and his current connections promptly got win number two with him this time on the turf, and then at 324-1, a fourth-place finish in the grade three Dominion Day Stakes and then another win, this on dirt and speedy and impressive, so here he is: finally the grade one level stakes runner he was once envisioned to be.
2 All Take Alydar Stables 100
All Take looks like the main threat here off an impressive win in the grade three MTH Cup in track record time last out. All Take is one of those rare creatures in HRP history, an early two-year-old big buy that actually succeeded. Bred by Team 7 Illusions, he was sold to Fractious for $300.000 after only three races based on his beauty, speed and a third in the $200.000 Simcoe Stakes at WO. Fractious made a small fortune by running him twice, second in the grade three Grey Stakes at WO and won the $100.000 Gun Runner at FG and selling him to his current owner for $250.000. As I said, small fortune, I’m sure Alydar Stables is pleased with his part of the bargain, after all, there have been seven graded stakes wins, including the grade one Prk. In fact, it is only the grade one factor that bothers me for it seems that when confronted with grade one, All Take just doesn’t show up, including last year’s edition of this race.
3 Keto Mb Stables 98
Unraced as a two-year-old, Fractious auctioned him off and Mb Stables had the winning bid of $32.001 and then… what? He set him aside for ten months? Why? He had Fractious Scurvy? It takes nine months to recover from an unnecessary gelding of a colt which had never even had a handy work? Well, who knows what goes on over there, but, wow, it works. Ten months after his transfer to the stable, he shows up at lowly PEN and runs a decent fifth in a six-furlong maiden. Decent and impressive enough along with the 1:11 3/5 breeze to show up next at SAR where F Prat rode him open margin wire to wire for seven furlongs in a maiden victory. And then on to the grade three WV Derby at MNR and a four-pound age allowance for this race. He’s young, he’s precocious, he’s lightly raced… we’ll just have to see.
4 Baffert Royalty Stables 99
Speaking of precocious, by his fourth lifetime race, Baffert was winning his second grade one… the BC Juvenile. As with so many precocious two-year-olds, it has been to reclaim that early glory. But that is not to say he has not been a factor. He has always been a deep closer, and you know what heartbreak they can bring with so many just misses and poor timing, but in the long run, so many valuable seconds and thirds, he picked up a check in each of the Triple Crown races. Well, I could handle a horse like this. Go ahead, lament the fact my horse hasn’t won a race since January 27, 2024, while I figure out what to spend the $3,175.200 on. Now there’s that dream. Here’s my reality: I like the way this race sets up for him. I like him in this post position. I have him a 5-1 longshot, I suspect the odds monkey will go higher. Most importantly, I think he’s going to score an upset win.
5 Frenchman Threshold 99
Frenchman comes fresh off a stunning upset in the grade two San Diego Handicap at DMR. The reason for the 189-1 odds on Frenchman in that race was as painfully obvious as it was thoughtlessly wrong: an untested claimer jumping up into a grade two stakes race. Consider this: Threshold is one of the savviest trainers at HRP. When he claimed Frenchman from Royalty Stables for $28.000, he knew darned well what he was getting, and it was not some fading allowance sort dropping down to claiming. No, it was the winner of the $200.000 CA Cup Derby. So, he set about bringing that horse back to the forefront. And he did it, with the same exact style and panache, now the questions are: can he make that final step up and, in this case, I think more importantly can he make the 1 1/4 miles? He’s has never shown any interest in that route before.
6 Decal Williams9 92
In October 2024, Decal came from well off the pace to win the grade one Breeders Futurity at KEE by a nose, a win that sent him to the BC Juvenile in his next start, but he couldn’t handle that bunch. Then he went second in the grade two LA Futurity and that was that. Seven races along and he hasn’t hit the board, and each loss seems bigger than the last. He even went through all the Triple Crown races and never got closer than 12th, six lengths back. I think the dream may be over.
7 Evgenii Night Rider Stables 99
It wasn’t until Night Rider Stables claimed Evgenii from Fractious for $20.000 that we heard anything much from him. In his first eight races, he ran third and fourth in $100.000 stakes races. His reward for that was to be uselessly gelded. Three races later, he was a claiming horse. Ah! So that is what that gelding button is for. What happens then? Do you get to feed him less? Anyway, Night Rider Stables’ trainer set him on a not at all demanding schedule of low allowance races and claimers, and he responded with a string of three energetic wins the last of which was a three-length romp at 1 1/4 miles which convinced his trainer something better was in order. Better was the grade two OP Handicap. While he didn’t bring home a check, he did his colours proud with a one-length loss that earned an SRF 101. That sent him to the grade three MTH Cup where his closing style earned him a close third, and that sent him here where he looks to have a middling chance.
8 Wahpekute Sioux Mb Stables 98
Another Mb Stables monster. Where does he find them all? Oh, yeah, he buys them. Y’know, it’s the clever way he buys them. Kopites has this horse he debuts it at PID where it runs last. So, not too pleased with that performance, he entered him in a $6.250 claiming race, not a maiden claimer, just a straight claimer. I don’t know what caught his eye, perhaps the fact that only seven lengths back as a firster at PID was not that bad or the :58 3/5H at DMR, but something made El Primero Rodeo think that $6.250 would be a good investment. Before El Primero Rodeo could get the horse to the racetrack, someone else noticed the horse. Mb Stables bought Wahpekute Sioux from El Primero Rodeo for $100.000. El Primero Rodeo must have been delighted: he bought a horse for $6.250 and sold it for $100.000 without ever racing it! And Mb Stables thought, “Ho hum, another $5,000.000.”
Wahpekute Sioux brings that star power to this race off an odd flop. No one’s going to believe that that means much of anything unless, and this is a big unless, you believe in repeat form one year apart because Wahpekute Sioux lost the 2024 version of the Whitney by the same four lengths as he lost this year. Scary? He won the 2024 Foster by 3/4 length; he won the 2025 Foster by one length. Scared yet? Well, rationally I see a one-race misstep. I think we will see the horse that was second in the last BC Classic, and that will be hard to beat.
9 Everythings Fine TwinTowersRacing 94
Everything’s fine, just not at this level and probably not at this distance. Everythings Fine has encountered this distance but twice in his 26-race career without success. Then this level of competition has basically been beyond him, only eleven graded stakes races with no wins there. Both of his stakes wins were State restricted. Most recent performances were last out a win in a one-mile overnighter at ELP and race before that a close third in the grade three Cartier Stakes at WO at six furlongs.
10 No More Rattle Bigchief Stables 96
No More Rattle has one important feature to consider: only once in his life has he raced as far as 1 1/4 mile… and he won that race. Not just any race either, the grade one SA Handicap. As a six-year-old, this talented horse is inexplicably lightly raced with only 21 starts. Although raceable in April of his two-year-old year. He only raced four times. He won two of those races, including the $200.000 Lively Shively at CD in 2021. Then only eight races in 2022, winning the grade three Lang Stakes at PIM. Only one race in 2023, as he did not race between January of 2023 and October of 2024, then three smaller stakes races to round off the year with a victory in the $100.000 Tenacious Stakes at FG, taking us to 2025 which began with his March 1 debut, his victory a favourite in the SA Handicap. Three losing races since then have undermined my confidence in him, but he is still my dark horse here.
Categories: Uncategorized