Tripoli wins Pacific Classic, gives Sadler and Hronis 3 in 4 years

Tripoli, who made his first 11 starts on turf, has found a home on the main track for trainer John Sadler. On Saturday, the 4-year-old colt by Kitten's Joy surged past pacesetter Tizamagician in the stretch and went on to win the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar 

With the victory, Tripoli earned a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar going the same 1 1/4-miles trip on Nov. 6. 

Tripoli and jockey Tiago Perreira sat in the pocket in third while saving ground throughout as Tizamagician set an honest pace of 23.52, 46.98, 1:11.73 and 1:36.88 for a mile. Tripoli came off the rail for running room leaving the second turn and outran Tizamagician to the wire to to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the 6-1 fourth choice. 

“He looked good all the way," Sadler said. "He broke on his feet so (Pereira) was able to tuck him in there and he looked comfortable all the way around...He had a perfect trip, give the rider a lot of credit. He rode him perfectly.”

Dr Post, who had fallen back in the middle of race under Joel Rosario, re-rallied to get up for third with long shot Sheriff Brown completing the superfecta.

"He kind of lost interest on the backstretch, so I thought I had no horse," Rosario said. "But when I wheeled him outside, he gave me a strong finish.  I don’t know how to explain it.”

The final time on a fast track was 2:02.37.

Sadler and owner Kosta Hrionis have won three of the past four Pacific Classic's. They also scored in 2018 with Accelerate and 2019 with Higher Power. 

“It feels great to win it again, and you’ve got to give all the credit to the barn," Hronis said. "Tiago rode a great race. It’s the only race he rode today because he wanted to focus on it. This horse has matured and just keeps coming along and today he proved himself. We didn’t know if he could go a mile and a quarter, but today we found out.”

This was Perreira's first time winning the Pacific Classic. It was also his second career Grade 1, but first in the U.S.. He won the 2010 Dubai World Cup with Gloria de Campeao (Brz). 

“John told me before the race to be careful, because there were a lot of runners who had a similar style of running," Perreira said. "So, I was okay running right behind the leaders. When it was time to run, I had plenty of horse.

"But once we got in front, he started looking around, waiting on other horses," Perreira added. "I looked around and knew we were not going to get caught."

Tripoli was unable to clear the first-level allowance condition until his 11th start on the turf, which came May 1 at Santa Anita. Interestingly, he beat Astronaut, who one race after the Pacific Classic sprung a 24-1 upset in the Del Mar Handicap (G2) for trainer John Shirreffs to earn a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

Tripoli was moved to the dirt for the first time after beating Astronaut and promptly beat second-level allowance foes on June 19 at Santa Anita. In the San Diego Handicap (G2) opening weekend most recently, he was beaten just a half length by Express Train, who went off favored in the Pacific Classic and was never a factor.