Amani to challenge males in Pacific Classic; Dullahan
breezes
Trainer Neil Drysdale confirmed Saturday that the four-year-old filly Amani
will be entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic next Sunday. The
Chilean star signaled her readiness with a seven-furlong work in 1:26 4/5
Saturday at Hollywood Park.
“I was very pleased with her, she worked very well,” the Hall of Fame
conditioner said. “I’m going to call the owner and let him know she’s going to
run in the race.”
Amani is owned by the Sumaya U.S. Stables of Oussama Aboughazali.
Amani was a winner of 10 of 11 starts in her native Chile in a one-year span
starting in December 2010. Nine of the victories in Chile by the daughter of
Morning Raider, a son of champion Giant’s Causeway, were in Group-level events,
generally by margins of eight or more lengths with the largest being 25 lengths.
Trained in Chile by Marco Antonio Pavez Ochoa, Amani was sent to Drysdale
following a win in the Group 1 St. Leger Cristal at the Hippodromo on December
17.
Amani made her U.S. debut, and first start for Drysdale, in the Grade 1
Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar August 4, rallying for third,
beaten 1 3/4 lengths, after bobbling at the start and traveling wide into the
stretch.
Garrett Gomez will retain the mount in the Classic.
Gomez’s agent, Tony Matos, was enthused about the prospect.
“She’s a very good filly, she’s run against colts before and I like my
chances,” Matos said. “Fillies can do well against colts this time of year and
Garrett wins these kinds of races.”
In other Pacific Classic news, multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan breezed five
furlongs in a bullet 1:00 2/5 over the fast track at Churchill Downs in advance
of his first start against elders. Trained by Dale Romans, the three-year-old
son of Even the Score posted the fastest move of 18 workers at the distance.
Dullahan recorded a fast-closing third in the Kentucky Derby, but has been no
factor in his last two dirt starts, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Haskell
Invitational and seventh in the Belmont Stakes. Both of his career wins came on
Keeneland’s Polytrack, a maiden-breaking score in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity
last October and 1 1/4-length tally in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes this
spring.
“He obviously likes the Polytrack, and this (Pacific Classic) was our best
opportunity to get him back on it in a big race,” Romans said recently.
Grade 2 San Diego Handicap winner Rail Trip will log his final workout for
the Pacific Classic on Tuesday at Hollywood Park and ship down later in the
week, trainer Ron Ellis reports. A Grade 1 winner in 2009, the seven-year-old
gelding snapped an eight-race losing skein in the July 28 San Diego.
“He came out of the last race well and he’s doing fine,” Ellis said. “We’re
keeping him up there because we figure he’s better off being where he’s happy
and not disrupting the routine. He handled (Del Mar’s Polytrack) very well last
time so it’s not necessary to have a work over it.”
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