Arrogate among early entries for Pacific Classic

DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Arrogate, a field of six or seven was expected to be entered on Tuesday morning for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, posts for which were to be drawn late Tuesday afternoon at the local restaurant The Brigantine.

Trainer Bob Baffert on Tuesday morning said both Arrogate and Collected would be entered in the Pacific Classic. He had contemplated also entering Cupid, merely as a backup in case something unforeseen happened to his two intended runners, but decided not to do that and will stick with his original plan of sending Cupid to the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 2.

Chris Merz, the stakes coordinator at Del Mar, on Tuesday morning said he had received entry cards for six runners – Accelerate, Arrogate, Collected, Curlin Road, Donworth, and Hard Aces. He said there was the possibility that Royal Albert Hall would be entered before the entry box closed.

Hard Aces is expected to run on turf in the Grade 2, $250,000 Del Mar Handicap, also on Saturday. Horses usually cannot be entered in two races on the same card in California, but because the Pacific Classic entries were due on Tuesday and the rest of the Saturday card had entries due on Wednesday, that created a “loophole, since entry day is a different day,” Merz said.

“If he enters the Del Mar Handicap, he will have to enter with a scratch” from the Pacific Classic, Merz said. So, Hard Aces’s involvement in the Pacific Classic – such as it is – could last less than 24 hours.

Arrogate had a light day on Tuesday, the day after his final work for the Pacific Classic.

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“He’s pretty happy. He looks good,” said Baffert, who pushed his hands forward, like he was sitting at a poker table, and said, “I’m all in with Arrogate.”

Arrogate has trained over this track for four weeks since his shockingly dull performance in the San Diego Handicap last month, in which Accelerate and Donworth ran one-two.

Baffert on Tuesday said one of the main reasons he wants to give Arrogate another chance at Del Mar is because the Breeders’ Cup will be run here for the first time this fall, with the Classic – which Arrogate won last year at Santa Anita – on Nov. 4.

The Pacific Classic, like the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is at 1 1/4 miles.

“If the Breeders’ Cup wasn’t here, maybe I’d have been reluctant to run him back,” Baffert said. “But we’ve got to find out.”