Kyle Frey elated with the win in the Pacific Classic aboard Mixto. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Del Mar Stable Notes by Jim Charvat
DEL MAR, Calif.—The day after the big day you’ll find the stable area at Del Mar back to work, going through the same routines with the horses that they do every day. Some of the winners are moving a little slower than usual but that’s understandable. It’s hard to sleep after a big win. But, by all reports, all of the winning horses and runner-ups appear to have returned in good order and now it’s time to look to the future.
Trainer Doug O’Neill was back at it, inspecting the horses he would send out to work or gallop this morning. He was the big winner yesterday scoring a 22-1 upset in the G1 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic with Mixto. The Classic was considered a wide-open affair after the scratch of the mare Adare Manor and so when it produced a longshot winner no one seemed surprised.
“We thought the five (Katonah) probably had the best chance of the two,” O’Neill admits. “But as the race unfolded, Kyle (Frey) had Mixto in the perfect spot and he just ran lights out.”
O’Neill says both of his horses came out of the race in good shape. “Paradise” he described it. It’s not every day you get a horse coming out of the Pleasanton Mile in the Pacific Classic, let alone winning it. But O’Neill thought highly of the 4-year-old son of Good Magic.
“He gave us a few hints of being a special horse but today he really validated the horse he is,” O’Neill said Saturday. “When you look at his PP’s, he’s run in a lot of different places, and he’s always been surrounding them and today it just unfolded perfectly. and Kyle Frey just rode a perfect race.”
Frey had a huge day, winning the Classic and the G2 Del Mar Handicap, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf in November at Del Mar. Frey rallied Gold Phoenix up the rail and edged Dicey Mo Chara on the wire to make history. Gold Phoenix scored his third ‘Handicap’ in three straight years, a feat that’s never been done in the marathon turf event.
“Hats off to my groom, my exercise riders, and my assistants,” trainer Phil D’Amato said afterward. “It’s a total team effort to get this horse to do what he’s done three years in a row. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s very rewarding when you get results like this.”
Gold Phoenix did it with three different jockeys: Flavien Prat in 2022; Juan Hernandez last year, and Kyle Frey this year.
“I think a big key to this is us doing right by the horse every year,” D’Amato stated. “After Breeders’ Cup we give him a nice couple of months off and I think that prepares him to be prime when Breeders’ Cup comes around again. Good horses like this, that are Breeders’ Cup type horses, run six or seven times a year at the most and we save him for the big dance at the end of the year.”
D’Amato says Gold Phoenix came out of the race in good shape. He says he’s not sure yet whether he will run the 6-year-old gelding again before the Breeders’ Cup.
“We just kind of take them as individuals,” D’Amato says. “That’s the best way to do it. Some we can fit in a prep race and some we just sit on them until the Breeders’ Cup.”
The Del Mar Handicap was the first of three grade stakes victories for D’Amato on Pacific Classic Day. His next visit to the winners’ circle came four races later when Motorious came flying late to win the G3 Green Flash for the second year in a row.
“He trained very well,” D’Amato said. “He trained well going into his other previous spots. I just think he got the setup and the turf course he likes today.”
The Green Flash is a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, a race D’Amato won his first and only Breeders’ Cup race in with Obviously in 2016 with the same owner, Tony Fanticola.
“He’s been with me from the very beginning,” D’Amato notes. “The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint has been very good to us so hopefully it will be good this year.”
Chances made even sweeter when you consider the Breeders’ Cup will be at Del Mar and how much Motorious like this turf course.
“I think it helps a lot,” D’Amato insists. “Especially the way he won today. I just think he gets a better grip. He just showed he has an affinity for this turf course.”
D’Amato scored the hat trick in the nightcap, winning the G2 Del Mar Mile with Conclude, who took them wire-to-wire.
“The horse likes to be up there close, and I left it up to Hector (Berrios),” D’Amato said Saturday. “He broke bad last time. We did a little gate schooling with him, and he broke like a rocket today and Hector nursed him along beautifully and got the job done.”
The stakes racing started with a coming out of sorts for the 3-year-old filly Hope Road, who took command of the race on the far turn and cruised home ahead of her stablemate, Santa Anita Oaks winner Nothing Like You, to win the G3 Torrey Pines. Trainer Bob Baffert finishing one-two.
“We just let Juan (Hernandez) do what he wants,” Baffert said. “He knows the filly. First out she was really aggressive. Second out he said she was relaxed. So, when the leader made that big bold move he let her have it.
“I didn’t have her as a 2-year-old,” Baffert continues. “When I started working her, I said ‘Wow, she’s really good.’”
Baffert says both of his fillies came out of the race in good order. He says he doesn’t know yet where he will race Hope Road next. “We’ll just enjoy this one.”
Pacific Classic Wrap-Up
The runner-up in the G1 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic was resting comfortably in his stall Sunday morning. Full Serrano set the pace in the 1 ¼ mile race, leading every step of the way until the final strides.
“We’re really proud of his effort,” trainer John Sadler said. “His second start in the country, a very strong race so we’re thrilled with his race.”
Mixto, the winner of the 34th running of the Pacific Classic, delivered the fifth highest payoff in the race history. At 22-1, he paid $46.40. Dare and Go’s victory over Cigar in the 1996 running is still the highest at $81.20 followed by Missionary Ridge in 1992 – $51.00; Richard’s Kid in 2009 – $50.80, and Student Council in 2007 – $48.80.
