Arrogate nears start of training for Pacific Classic

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate has had a quiet start to May, a peaceful period that is nearing an end.

The champion 3-year-old male of 2016, Arrogate has been perfect in two starts this year, winning the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28 and the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 25. He is the first horse to win consecutive eight-figure races.

Arrogate will soon begin training for an expected appearance in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 19. The main goal for the second half of the year is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 4, a race Arrogate won last November at Santa Anita.

Arrogate returned to trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita on April 1 and was jogged in early April. More recently, he has been tack-walked at the stable. Baffert said on Sunday that Arrogate will soon resume racetrack training.

“I wanted to give him two weeks off,” Baffert said. “I’ve got to point for the Breeders’ Cup.

“He’s getting his weight back on. He’s happy, I know that.”

Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Arrogate has won 7 of 8 starts, and his earnings of $17,084,600 is a record for a North American-based Thoroughbred. Arrogate was third at Los Alamitos in April 2016 in his debut and has won his last seven starts.

Arrogate will not start at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, which ends July 4. Without him, the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27 will be a more competitive race. The $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita is run at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

The candidates include the Baffert-trained Collected, who won the Grade 2 Californian Stakes on April 22, as well as Follow Me Crev, Hard Aces, Midnight Storm and possibly Big John B and Prospect Park, according to Santa Anita racing officials.