Collected beats Arrogate in the Pacific Classic

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert swept the top two places in the $1,000,000 Pacific Classic (G1), yet right after the race he was noticeably disappointed because Collected had upset Arrogate, the world’s top-rated thoroughbred.

Right after the race Baffert was struggling for words, “Collected is a good horse. He was training well down here, but Arrogate looked like he wasn’t going to get any part of it. He had to work really hard for that second.”

Collected lead the ten-furlong signature race at Del Mar every step of the way, giving him his fourth straight victory this year. Since the Pacific Classic is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, Collected secured a ‘Win and You’re In’ spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic for his owners, Speedway Stables LLC. No winner of the Pacific Classic has ever gone on to victory in the BC Classic.

At the start of the race, Mike Smith had Arrogate break alertly, clearly not wanting Arrogate to get too far behind his speedy stablemate. Collected, who had won all three of his races this year while running on or just behind the lead, was hustled to the front on the rail and was allowed to settle into a very comfortable stride by his jockey Martin Garcia. Accelerate, who won the San Diego Handicap on the lead, was also running early and settled in second position on the outside of Collected’s hip. That left Arrogate in third place widest of the three.

The positions did not change among the top three betting choices as they carved out steady fractions. The timer clicked off quarter splits of 23.76, 47.19, 1:11.06, and 1:35.27. Exiting the final turn Arrogate looked like he was struggling, not comfortable running on the deep and tiring Del Mar surface, but Smith asked him to run and he began to gain on Collected.

The leading trio were all tired and struggling down the stretch. Accelerate could not keep up and faded to finish third, but Arrogate was slowly gaining some ground on Collected; however, the finish line was approaching quickly. Arrogate did not show the stunning acceleration that he had showed during his wins in the Pegasus and Dubai World Cups earlier in the year.

After the race, Smith tried to explain Arrogate’s second loss in a row, “I don’t feel like he’s running his race really, although he did run better. That’s a really nice horse that beat him. But, in saying that he just doesn’t seem to get over the top of it [the Del Mar track] for some odd reason. He just doesn’t seem to push off of it. I don’t know why. He is certainly not running his ‘A’ race. He’s probably running a ‘B’ and getting outrun.”

In the end, Collected won the Pacific Classic by a half length in a very respectable final time of 2:00.70. This was the first grade one victory for Collected who had stakes wins on the 2016 Kentucky Derby trail in the Sham (G3) and the Lexington (G3). He was sidelined after tenth place finish in the Preakness until he began his 2017 campaign in April at Santa Anita.

Winning rider Martin Garcia said, “I liked where I was all the way around there. I could tell how fast we were going and my horse was relaxed. He felt so good, all the way around. When I asked him at the top of the stretch, he was running 100% worth. I hit him a few times, but he was giving me his all. I could feel Mike’s horse (Arrogate) coming. It was like an animal creeping up behind me. But we had enough to get it done.”

With the victory, Collected upped his career record to an impressive 11: 8-1-0 with earnings of $1,260,500. Sent off at odds of 3-1, he paid $8.00, 2.80, 2.00 across the board. With the .70-1 favorite Arrogate in second, the $2 exacta paid $19.20. Accelerate, the 3.20-1 third choice, completed the $2 trifecta of $43.

At this point, Baffert will have Collected to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, although about Arrogate Baffert seemed puzzled, “I think when I ran him in the San Diego I just messed up his whole psyche. I think he’ll turn that around. He’s still in the hunt.”