DEL MAR Arrogate works his way into Pacific Classic

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert likens what happened to Arrogate in the San Diego Handicap to American Pharoah when he got beat in the Travers Stakes two years ago.

“We have to figure out what we did wrong and adjust,” Baffert said Tuesday. “It’s like being in the locker room at halftime and making adjustments.”

American Pharoah rebounded from his Travers defeat to romp in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Arrogate, who sleepwalked to a fourth-place finish in the San Diego at Del Mar on July 22, looked like his old self on Tuesday morning, when he worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds, a move Baffert said put Arrogate on course for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 19.

“We’re running,” Baffert said. “He looked good today. He was floating over the track.

“He had to look like that. I can breathe easy.”

Arrogate worked by himself under jockey Martin Garcia just after the second of three renovation breaks. He was going easily throughout and galloped out five furlongs on Baffert’s watch in 1:00.31. As Arrogate began to wind down from the work, Baffert “dabbed,” like Cam Newton after a touchdown.

“We’re right on schedule,” Baffert said. “Just had to hit the reset button.”

Baffert is second-guessing himself over running in the San Diego. “I should have just trained him to the Pacific Classic,” he said.

Baffert likely will have two horses in the Pacific Classic, as Collected has trained brilliantly since arriving here. He continued his strong pattern with a six-furlong drill in 1:11.40 earlier Tuesday morning.

“He loves this track,” Baffert said.

Both Arrogate and Collected recorded the fastest times of the morning at their respective workout distances.

Accelerate was the upset winner of the San Diego, and he had his first work since that victory on Tuesday, a half-mile in 48.60 seconds for trainer John Sadler. He, too, is intended for the Pacific Classic.

Hillhouse High in pivotal start

Hillhouse High ran a careerbest race in winning the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita in April. She was unable to duplicate that effort when sixth in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs on May 6 and was given a vacation for the remainder of the spring.

Three months later, Hillhouse High will start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf for fillies and mares at Del Mar. The $200,000 Yellow Ribbon will determine how ambitiously she is campaigned in the coming months.

The Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 1/8 miles will be held here Nov. 4 at a distance a furlong shorter than recent runnings at Santa Anita. That race could be a goal if Hillhouse High delivers another careerbest performance in the Yellow Ribbon.

“I don’t know if she’s good enough,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “If she wins, she’d have a chance.”

Baltas trains Hillhouse High for Golden Eagle Farm. A 6-year-old mare, Hillhouse High won her first graded stakes in the Royal Heroine. The loss in the Distaff Turf Mile on a “good” turf course was caused by a combination of factors, Baltas said.

“At Churchill Downs, there was a lot of rain that week,” Baltas said. “I don’t know if she liked the soft turf. She got shuffled back. I decided to give her a little break after that.”

Hillhouse High, who has won 4 of 24 starts and earned $444,113, will not be favored in the Yellow Ribbon. Avenge, third in the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita last November, leads a field expected to include Amboseli, Cambodia, Frenzified, Juno, Kiss Me Now, and Pretty Girl.

The Yellow Ribbon is one of two Grade 2 stakes on Saturday’s program, along with the $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs.

The Sorrento will be the first meeting between the unbeaten Surrender Now, who won the Landaluce Stakes at Santa Anita on July 2, and Diamondsandpearls, a sharp maiden winner at Santa Anita on July 2 in her debut.

Other candidates are Dancing Belle, Midnight Summer, Spectator, Spirit of Shanghai, and Terra’s Angel.

Mandella waxes Poetic

Trainer Richard Mandella came to Del Mar with a promising group of 2-year-old fillies and got his first win with them on Sunday, when Poetic tallied in her debut going 5 1/2 furlongs, a performance that likely will put her in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 2, Mandella said.

“She trained like a classy filly,” Mandella said. “I thought she might need further, but it was enough. We never zinged her in a work. She was smart enough. She made us think there was even more.”

The seven furlongs of the Debutante “is probably in line for her,” Mandella said.

“Anybody who wins a maiden at this point of the meet with a 2-year-old filly has got to be thinking the Debutante,” he said.

Medaglia Gold finds her thing

Medaglia Gold stretched out around two turns, added blinkers, and moved to turf for the third start of her career last Saturday, and her frontrunning, runaway victory against 2-year-old maiden fillies earned her a spot in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 4, trainer Cliff Sise Jr. said.

Medaglia Gold ran sixth in her first start and seventh in her second start, both times sprinting on dirt at Santa Anita.

“I’ve always loved the filly,” Sise said. “The first time she ran, I thought she’d win by five. I was disappointed. Her second race was better but still disappointing. The way she trained, I figured maybe she wants to go a route of ground.”

On Saturday, “she took off, she rebroke again,” Sise said.

“The way she did it was very nice,” he said.

Corey Nakatani was fined $200 for excessive use of the whip aboard My Italian Babbo in the California Dreamin’ Stakes on Saturday, a race My Italian Babbo won by a nose.