Multiple Grade 1 winner and 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up 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 Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic this
Sunday at Del Mar.
The five-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 1 1/4-mile 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 Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, the Grade 1
Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic.
The Bob Baffert trainee has captured three-of-four starts this season, the
lone setback being an unplaced effort in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup overseas,
and will enter the Pacific Classic off a pair of convincing victories this
summer, recording a 7 1/4-length triumph in the Grade 2 Californian on June 2
before an easy 1 1/2-length score in the July 7 Hollywood Gold Cup.
Next on the odds board comes two-time Pacific Classic winner Richard’s Kid,
who’ll break from post 3 under Victor Espinoza. The seven-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. Leandro Mora, who is subbing for the suspended Doug O’Neill,
trains.
Dullahan is the lone three-year-old in the 10-horse field. Trained by Dale
Romans, the chestnut colt finished a respectable third in the Kentucky Derby two
starts back, but his only career wins have come on Polytrack, with notable
tallies in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity last fall and the Grade 1 Blue Grass
this spring. Joel Rosario will be in to ride Dullahan, who is listed as the
fifth choice on the morning line at 6-1.
Ron McAnally will send out Argentinean star Suggestive Boy, who finished
second when making his U.S. bow in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile and exits a win in
the grassy Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar on July 25. The four-year-old colt is the
5-1 co-third choice with the the filly Amani, who rallied well for third-place
honors in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch when making her first North American
start last out. Now trained by Neil Drysdale, Amani was a seven-time stakes
heroine in Chile, including four Group 1 events.
Grade 1 hero Rail Trip will enter the Pacific Classic on the upswing for
trainer Ron Ellis, snapping an eight-race, two-year losing streak with a
half-length victory in the Grade 2 San Diego at Del Mar July 28. The
seven-year-old gelding will break from the rail with Jose Valdivia Jr. Baffert
is also responsible for Jaycito, a Grade 1-winning juvenile who exits an
encouraging allowance/optional claiming score over the Polytrack.
Where’s Sterling, Akkadian and Riveting Reason complete the line-up.
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