Coil Featured On Pacific Classic Undercard
In addition to the 22nd running of the Grade I $1,000,000 TVG Pacific Classic, Sunday’s 11-race program also will feature two important Grade II events, the $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on the main track and the $200,000 Del Mar Mile over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course, both races for older Thoroughbreds.
The TVG Pacific Classic, Del Mar’s signature stakes at the classic American distance of a mile and one-quarter on the main track, is carded as the ninth race, while the O’Brien Stakes will be the fifth and the Del Mar Mile the seventh.
The O’Brien drew a field of six sprinters, including the razor-sharp Camp Victory, winner of the Triple Bend Handicap at seven furlongs at Betfair Hollywood Park June 30, and Coil
Joe Talamo has the mount on Camp Victory from the barn of Mike Mitchell, while Del Mar’s leading pilot, Rafael Bejarano, will handle Coil for trainer Bob Baffert.
Others in the O’Brien field are Bruce’s Dream, Joel Rosario; Mobilized, Garrett Gomez; Capital Account, David Flores, and Don Tito, Paco Lopez.
Among those opposing Jeranimo will be the two-three finishers from the 2011 Del Mar Mile, Mr. Commons, to be ridden by Brice Blanc, and Calimonco, Victor Espinoza. Rounding out the field are Tale of a Champion, an invader from Florida with Rosario up; the late-running Norvsky, recent winner of the California Dreamin’ Handicap for the second straight year who will have Bejarano in the irons, and Irish-bred Obviously, an easy recent winner who will have Talamo up.