Baffert waiting for breezes with Adare Manor, Muth for Pacific Classic decision
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Weekend workouts will determine whether the 5-year-old mare Adare Manor or even the 3-year-old Muth start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 31.
Trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday that he plans to run the multiple stakes winner Reincarnate in the $1 million Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles, and said decisions are forthcoming on Muth or Adare Manor.
“They’re breezing this weekend and then we’ll see,” he said.
Muth is also nominated for the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on Sept. 1.
Muth, unraced since a win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on March 30, was scratched from the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in May because of illness. Muth has had a steady pattern of workouts since late June, including seven furlongs in 1:25 at Del Mar on Aug. 18.
If Muth starts in the Pacific Classic, he could become the sixth 3-year-old winner of the historic race in its 34th running. Arabian Knight won the 2023 running as a 3-year-old for Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer’s record seventh winner in the track’s richest annual race for older horses.
Adare Manor, one of the nation’s leading older fillies and mares, won the eighth graded stakes of her career with a striking victory in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 3. Adare Manor, who often sets the pace, closed from an inside position on the backstretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths for her second consecutive win in the Clement Hirsch.
If Adare Manor starts in the Pacific Classic, it will be the longest race of her career. She won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on May 26 by 4 1/4 lengths, the second of an active three-race winning streak.
Beholder, in 2015, is the only filly or mare to win the Pacific Classic. Beholder, a four-time champion from 2012 to 2016 who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, was second to California Chrome in the 2016 Pacific Classic.
The Pacific Classic had a field of 10 last year, and may have a group close to that number this year. Dr. Venkman, Katonah, and Express Train, the first three finishes of the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on July 27, are scheduled to start.
Other candidates are Midnight Mammoth, who beat Reincarnate in the Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Del Mar on July 25; El Miracolo, second in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 17; Mixto, second in the Pleasanton Mile in Northern California on July 7; and Full Serrano, the Argentina-bred winner of an allowance race at a mile at Del Mar on Aug. 3 in his American debut.
One of the longshots will be None Above the Law, a 6-year-old gelding who has won five stakes, including the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf in 2021.
Trained by Jorge Periban, None Above the Law won the Bertrando Stakes for statebred milers at Los Alamitos on June 22, and closed well to finish third by 1 3/4 lengths in the California Dreamin’ Stakes for statebreds at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 3.
None Above the Law, claimed for $50,000 at Santa Anita in February, will have his Grade 1 debut and first start at 1 1/4 miles on dirt in the Pacific Classic, his 36th start.
On Friday at Del Mar, None Above the Law worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds, one of the fastest times of the morning at the distance.
“He seems like a different horse,” Periban said after the workout. “Since I claimed him, he’s been better and better.”
Periban said he was unsure who will ride None Above the Law. Antonio Fresu, who has been aboard None Above the Law in his last two starts, is scheduled to ride Mixto.
The Pacific Classic is the leading race on an Aug. 31 program that includes four other graded stakes.
The leading turf races are the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles and Grade 2 Del Mar Mile. Both have purses of $300,000.
There are two Grade 3 races worth $150,000 – the Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf, and the Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile.
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