9/1/11
Last updated: 8/31/11 5:38 PM
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Acclamation exited his Pacific Classic victory in good shape
(Benoit Photos) |
Pacific Classic (G1) winner ACCLAMATION (Unusual Heat) went back to
the track on Wednesday morning, less than 72 hours after his
wire-to-wire victory in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on
Sunday. The feeling of satisfaction over Acclamation’s accomplishments,
including becoming the first horse in the country to win three Grade 1
stakes in 2011, was still palpable in the barn area of trainer Don
Warren.
“He went back to the track this morning for a little jog and he
looked fine,” Warren said Wednesday morning. “He has been eating good
since he ran and we’re happy with what we see so far.”
Warren said he took a day off from work on Tuesday, his first day off
“in awhile,” but was back to business as usual a day later.
“I’ve been concentrating on (Acclamation) so much that I almost
forgot I had eight others,” Warren said. “Now I can concentrate on
them.”
Warren will saddle two maidens on Del Mar’s Thursday card, both bred
at the Old English Rancho of Acclamation co-owners E.W. “Bud” and Judy
Johnston. Sentry Duty (One Man Army) goes in the 1ST race and Pick Your
Battles (Unbridled Native) will make her racing debut in the 8TH race.
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Trainer Bob Baffert said on Monday that he had attempted to buy Acclamation
in the weeks leading up to the Pacific Classic, making a $2 million offer that
Bud Johnston had turned down. Interested parties have come around the barn in
the wake of the Classic, Warren said, and the idea that Acclamation could be
sold is not exactly far-fetched.
“Every time he wins, people come around and it’s up to Buddy,” Warren said.
“We’ve sold horses all the time over the years. Maybe none as good as him, but
you never know. Maybe one of these days he’ll get an offer he can’t refuse.”
Baffert and trainer John Sadler said that their Pacific Classic runners, as
well as their winners of other graded stakes over the weekend, also showed no
ill effects.
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The Factor was tired but well following the Pat O’Brien
(Benoit Photos) |
Sadler said Pacific Classic runner-up TWIRLING CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]),
beaten only a head by Acclamation, would go to the track to jog on Thursday and
a decision regarding future races could be made by the end of the week.
Sadler-trained CELTIC NEW YEAR (North Light [Ire]), winner of Sunday’s Del Mar
H. (G2), came out of the race, in which he held off Bourbon Bay (Sligo Bay
[Ire]) by a head, in good shape. The four-year-old gelding will remain at Del
Mar for a few days, then ship to Santa Anita for preparations of a possible
Breeders’ Cup assignment.
Baffert said THE FACTOR (War Front), impressive winner of the Pat O’Brien S.
(G1), and Pacific Classic fourth-place finisher GAME ON DUDE (Awesome Again)
“came back great.”
“The Factor, you could tell that he ran hard, he was tired,” Baffert said.
In his first start in four months, The Factor covered the seven furlongs of
the O’Brien in 1:21.56 in the second-fastest running of the race since the
switch to a Polytrack main surface in 2007.
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Game on Dude and The Factor will remain at Del Mar until next week, then be
vanned to Santa Anita.
