Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
SWEEP DREAMS
ACCELERATE AIMS FOR THIRD HANDICAP JEWEL IN PACIFIC CLASSIC,
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Pacific Classic was inaugurated at Del Mar in 1991, and in the 27 years since it joined the Santa Anita Handicap and, at the time, the Hollywood Gold Cup as Southern California’s signature 1 1/4-mile races for older horses, only two horses, Lava Man in 2006 and Game On Dude in 2013, have swept all three in the same year.
That is the company Accelerate will seek to join on Saturday, when he tries to add a victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic to earlier triumphs this year in the Big Cap and the Gold Cup, now run at Santa Anita.
There’s even more incentive for Accelerate to win. Accelerate is seeking to enhance his credentials as a bona-fide candidate for an Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male, and a victory in the Pacific Classic offers a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs through the Win and You’re In program.
“Counting down the days,” his trainer, John Sadler, said at his barn on Thursday morning. “At this point, ready to go anytime. Really excited, in a good frame of mind.”
Sadler’s confidence is boosted by the fact that the 2018 version of Accelerate is an improvement over earlier models. Last year, Accelerate was largely considered a miler. In the Pacific Classic, he was third behind Collected and Arrogate.
This year, Accelerate has won three of four starts, his lone setback a neck loss to City of Light in the Oaklawn Handicap. He clobbered his foes in the Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup, and he’ll be favored to do so again Saturday at a track where he owns three wins in five tries, including an upset victory in last year’s San Diego.
“He’s really come on, blossoming at 5,” Sadler said. “He looks to be the prohibitive favorite. He’s proven at the distance, proven at the track, proven at carrying weight.”
Accelerate had to concede weight to his rivals in the Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup, but the weight-for-age conditions of this race find all eight runners carrying 124 pounds.
Accelerate has not raced since his Gold Cup victory on May 26. He was kept out of this year’s San Diego in favor of stablemate Catalina Cruiser, but has trained right along.
“Under different circumstances, we might have run, but we had the other horse,” Sadler said. “He’s had several good works here.”
Joel Rosario is flying in from the East Coast to ride Accelerate, replacing Accelerate’s regular jockey, the injured Victor Espinoza.
Pavel, fourth in the Gold Cup, looks to be the main rival to Accelerate. He comes off a victory in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, which earned him a spot in the Classic through the Win and You’re In program and proved he’s comfortable at the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, a place Accelerate would be racing for the first time.
Pavel ran the worst race of his life at Del Mar, albeit against a top-class field in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The Lieutenant, the older halfbrother to Justify, has progressed in recent months and comes off a second-place finish behind the runaway winner Diversify in the Suburban. He won an allowance race here last year.
“I’d like to see him stalk,” said trainer Michael McCarthy. “He rates kindly. He won over this track last year. He seems to enjoy it here. He’s been touting himself.”
As he did last year, Bob Baffert sends out two runners in the Pacific Classic. But whereas he had one-two finishers Collected and Arrogate in 2017, Baffert will be an outsider this time with his pair of Dr. Dorr and the Argentine import Roman Rosso.
Dr. Dorr got the green light for the race after a strong work on Tuesday, the day entries were due. He was a distant second in the San Diego. Earlier this year, Dr. Dorr was second to Accelerate in the Gold Cup.
Roman Rosso won five of eight starts in South America before coming here in the spring. This will be his first start in this country and his first race in five months.
Beach View comes off a win here in the 1 1/2-mile Cougar II. He benefited from a rail-skimming ride from Rafael Bejarano, who is back aboard.
Prime Attraction was sixth of seven in the Santa Anita Handicap, but is 2 for 2 on the main track here, including last fall’s Native Diver.
Two Thirty Five, likely the race’s longest shot, was fourth of five in the San Diego in his lone try in graded company.
The Pacific Classic goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific. It is preceded by two other graded stakes, the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks (race 8) for 3-year-old turf fillies and the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap (race 6) for grass runners.