Pacific Classic 2020 guide: Odds, picks and analysis
Maximum Security leads a field of six assembled for the centerpiece of Del Mar’s summer racing season, the Grade 1, $500,000 Pacific Classic.
The 4-year-old New Year’s Day colt Maximum Security is 2-for-2 this season and 11: 9-1-0 lifetime. There was nearly a five-month gap between his Feb. 29 triumph in the Saudi Cup and his July 25 debut for trainer Bob Baffert in the local San Diego Handicap (G2).
Saturday’s Pacific Classic will mark Maximum Security’s first time going 1¼ miles since the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Abel Cedillo piloted the three-time Grade 1 hero in the San Diego and stays aboard while regular jockey Luis Saez rides at Saratoga.
In the San Diego, Midcourt nearly became only the second horse to ever cross the wire ahead of Maximum Security, losing a photo finish. The two-time graded stakes winner aims for a Grade 1 breakthrough here.
Maximum Security’s other chief contender Saturday is Higher Power, who’s aiming for back-to-back Pacific Classic victories.
The Pacific Classic awards its winner a “Win and You’re In” ticket to November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. The race has also proved influential for end-of-season honors, with recent winners Beholder (2015), California Chrome (2016) and Accelerate (2018) all going on to earn Eclipse Awards.
Here’s a look at the field for the 2020 Pacific Classic, which is scheduled for a 9:36 p.m. EDT post time:
1. Midcourt (John Shirreffs, Victor Espinoza), 7-2
2. Higher Power (John Sadler, Flavien Prat), 3-1
3. Mirinaque (Maria Munoz, Tiago Pereira), 10-1
4. Dark Vader (Peter Eurton, Umberto Rispoli), 12-1
5. Maximum Security (Bob Baffert, Abel Cedillo), 1-1
6. Sharp Samurai (Mark Glatt, Juan Hernandez), 8-1
TimeformUS’ pace projections show Maximum Security going out to a lead Saturday under Cedillo, with Midcourt in pursuit. Note that TimeformUS lacks pace data on Mirinaque, whose nine previous starts all came in Argentina.
Check out free PPs from our friends at Brisnet for more information on the Pacific Classic’s six runners.
Pacific Classic on TV
TVG is the title sponsor for the Pacific Classic, so it’s little surprise the network will go all out for coverage of the race.
TVG’s Christina Blacker, Britney Eurton, Joaquin Jamie, Mike Joyce and Todd Schrupp will report live from Del Mar with Simon Bray contributing to the broadcast remotely. Coverage will include special features planned throughout the day including a spotlight on jockeys Flavien Prat and Umberto Rispoli. The two European stars are in close competition for the Del Mar leading jockey title.
Maximum Security will be the subject of a feature looking back on his roller coaster career which included finishing first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but getting disqualified. TVG will go behind the scenes with Baffert with a focus on Maximum Security’s workouts training up to this race and include a look at defending Pacific Classic winner Higher Power’s recent form.
Additionally, there will be “Where Are They Now” segments throughout the day catching up with former winners of the race including California Chrome, Beholder, Game on Dude and Candy Ride.
Pacific Classic analysis
Reinier Macatangay handicaps each of Del Mar’s five Saturday stakes. He sees odds of 3-1 or greater on Higher Power as worth a shot.
On this week’s HorseCenter, hosts Matt Shifman and Brian Zipse analyze the Pacific Classic. The duo also looks at the weekend’s other major stakes, including Saratoga’s $400,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1).
Maximum Security sits atop Chip Gehrke’s Older Dirt Male Division Rankings. A Midcourt victory could vault that one from the division’s next five into its top five.
Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 features two races from Saratoga and three from Del Mar, including the Pacific Classic. The minimum bet is 50 cents.
Del Mar’s Hank Wesch takes a look at the history of loaded Pacific Classic cards, a tradition that continues Saturday with five stakes.
The Pacific Classic victor will become the sixth runner to earn a Breeders’ Cup Classic “Win and You’re In” berth. Two of the five previous Classic Division Challenge Series race winners are Maximum Security’s stablemates Authentic and Improbable.
Five years ago, Beholder stepped into the Pacific Classic starting gates against the boys. She produced what might have been the fastest 1¼ miles ever run on dirt by a filly or mare in North America.
Pacific Classic undercard
First post Saturday is 5 p.m. EDT, with full Del Mar entries available via HRN. Here’s a look at the card’s other stakes races, courtesy of the NTRA:
6:05 p.m. – $100,000 Green Flash Handicap (G3), TVG
The Green Flash Handicap leads off a banner day of racing at Del Mar offering five stakes worth a total of more than $1-million. Topweighted in the Green Flash at 123 pounds – and the morning line favorite at 5-2 – is Del Secco DCS Racing’s Sparky Ville, a multiple-stakes winning Candy Ride (ARG) gelding who already has a win at the session on the five-panel layout that he’ll run on Saturday. Mike Smith rode the 4-year-old to a photo-finish tally on July 26 and has the call back Saturday. Jeff Bonde trains the chestnut Kentucky-bred who can claim purse earnings of $321,312.
6:36 p.m. – $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3), TVG
Seven 3-year-old fillies will match strides at in the 43rd edition of the Torrey Pines Stakes. Topping the group in the one-mile testing will be Bamford or Tabor’s Uncle Mo filly Harvest Moon. The bay Kentucky-bred, who races out of the barn of trainer Simon Callaghan, has only started three times and never run versus stakes competition, but appears to have found a spot right in her wheelhouse in the Torrey Pines.
8:06 p.m. – $200,000 Del Mar Handicap (G2), TVG
L N J Foxwoods’ United will strut his stuff in the oldest stakes on the shore oval’s roster, which is also a “Win and You’re In” program that grants its winner a guaranteed entry with fees paid in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf. United, who has banked $1,253,549 during a career that has seen him win six of 14 starts including a three-for-three run in stakes this year, scored most recently in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar on July 26.
9:06 p.m. – $250,000 Del Mar Oaks (G1), TVG
Eleven 3-year-old fillies will test their mettle over nine furlongs on the Del Mar turf course Saturday in the Del Mar Oaks. The likely favorite in the highly sought lawn test is Gary Barber’s Laura’s Light, a daughter of Constitution who has won five of her seven lifetime starts, including a last-out tally in one-mile Del Mar’s San Clemente Stakes on grass July 25.
Pacific Classic preview
From Del Mar's publicity department...
Maximum Security, a winner of nine of 11 starts and nearly $12 million in purses, a remarkably talented and unfortunately star-crossed colt, a runner who – despite his enviable record – is looking to reestablish himself as the big dog on the American racing scene, gets his chance to do just that at Del Mar Saturday when he headlines the track’s headliner on a five-stakes afternoon – the Grade 1, $500,000 Pacific Classic.
The son of New Year’s Day, bred by owners Gary and Mary West, who have added partners to his ownership group in the European trio of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, will take on five rivals in the mile and a quarter for 3-year-old and up and he’ll have Abel Cedillo in the boot for the run. Cedillo rode the bay to a hard-fought nose victory in the San Diego Handicap here on July 25 in his first start in five months and first under the care of trainer Bob Baffert. The 4-year-old carried topweight of 127 pounds that day but, under the weight-for-age conditions of the “Classic,” he – and all the other runners – will go postward with 124 pounds Saturday.
The Pacific Classic offers all the monetary and prestige advantages of a $500,000 Grade 1 race, but it also provides a notable plus in that it is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” race, meaning its winner gets a guaranteed entry into its designated race, one with all fees paid. In this case that race is the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be run Saturday, Nov. 7 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Here’s the field for the 30th edition of the Pacific Classic from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:
C R K Stable’s Midcourt (Victor Espinoza, 7/2); Hronis Racing’s Higher Power (Flavien Prat, 3-1); Parque Patricios Racing Stables’ Mirinaque (Tiago Pereira, 10-1); Estate of Sharon Alesia and Burns Racing’s Dark Vader (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Maximum Security (even), and Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal’s Sharp Samurai (Juan Hernandez, 8-1).
The Pacific Classic is Race 10 on Saturday’s 11-race program, the premier offering of five graded stakes on the card. It has a $300,000 winner’s share.
Maximum Security finished first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but was disqualified and placed 17th in the world’s most famous race. Then this year he again finished first, this time in the world’s richest race – the $20-million Saudi Cup – only to have his purse money put on hold because of issues with his previous trainer and allegations of the use of drugs on his horses. The horse surely does his share with the running; he could, however, use a bit of racing luck besides.
Higher Power won this Pacific Classic last year and will be a stout threat to repeat Saturday. The 5-year-old horse by Medaglia d’Oro shows a record of five firsts and a bankroll of more than $1.5 million to his credit.
Midcourt gave Maximum Security a ferocious tussle in the mile and one-sixteenth San Diego ‘Cap last month. He’s a multiple-stakes winner, including the Native Diver at Del Mar last fall.
Sharp Samurai is switching from grass to dirt to try his luck Saturday. The 6-year-old gelding by First Samurai has won eight races and more than $800,000, but only shows three dirt starts from 20 total outings.
Mirinaque is a South American by way of Argentina making his U.S. bow Saturday. He was a four-time winner in his native land, among them a pair of Group 1 races.
Dark Vader will be looking for his first stakes win in the Pacific Classic. He’s a 5-year-old horse by Tale of Ekatai.
First post for Saturday’s big program is 2 p.m. PDT.