Game On Dude Faces Eager Foes in Pacific Classic

Game On Dude drew post position 9 Wednesday night and was installed the 5-2 morning line favorite to win the 22nd edition of the $1,000,000 TVG Pacific Classic this Sunday at Del Mar.

The 5-year-old gelded son of Awesome Again, owned by Diamond Pride, Lanni Famly Trust or Mercedes Stables, will once again have Chantal Sutherland in the tack as they take on nine rivals in the mile and one-quarter test that is the seaside track’s richest and most prestigious of its 75th anniversary year. Sutherland, who already has won five major stakes on the Kentucky-bred, will try for another and in the process attempt to become the first female rider to pull off the Southern California “triple” of the Santa Anita Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the TVG Pacific Classic.

Next on the odds board comes two-time Pacific Classic winner Richard’s Kid, who’ll break from post 3 under Victor Espinoza. The 7-year-old Lemon Drop Kid horse is listed as a 7-2 shot as he aims for an unprecedented triple of his own with a third Classic tally. Richard’s Kid won his first two runnings – in 2009 and 2010 -- of the race for separate owners and now will try for a third this time after being purchased last weekend by an new ownership group headed by Triple B Farms.

The 10 horses entered for the Grade I headliner were represented by their connections Wednesday evening at a post position draw party at Burlap Restaurant in Del Mar.

Here’s the lineup for the TVG Pacific Classic in post position order: