Express Train points to Pacific Classic as next start

DEL MAR, Calif. - Racing near the front throughout, Express Train fought off a late challenge from Tripoli to win his second stakes of 2021 in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

That sort of perseverance has not been an every-race occurrence this year for Express Train, who ended a three-race losing streak in the $251,500 San Diego Handicap dating to the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 30.

“Everything went right for him,” trainer John Shirreffs said Sunday. “He made a nice move and ran all the way to the finish.”

Express Train is likely to start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 21, the leading race of the track’s summer meeting. The winner of the $750,000 Pacific Classic receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic here Nov. 6.

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Express Train is winless in two starts at 1 1/4 miles this year in top races at Santa Anita, a half-length loss to Idol in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6, and a well-beaten third behind Country Grammer and Royal Ship in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 31.

Some of those runners will not be in the Pacific Classic.

Idol recently returned from a two-month rest and is not expected to race again until the fall, at the earliest. Country Grammer was transferred from Bob Baffert to Todd Pletcher in New York in late May. Royal Ship finished third in the San Diego Handicap, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, and is a candidate for the Pacific Classic.

Express Train, a Union Rags colt owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stables, ran a winning race in the Big Cap, leading by two lengths with a furlong remaining. Express Train was not as sharp in the Gold Cup, regular rider Juan Hernandez told Shirreffs.

“In the Gold Cup, Juan said he didn’t give him a good feeling at the end of the race,” Shirreffs said. “He didn’t give that kick that he has had.”

Hernandez was aboard Express Train in the San Diego, the jockey’s richest win at the track.

The Pacific Classic field is expected to include Tripoli and Royal Ship. The San Diego was Tripoli’s stakes debut. He closed from sixth in a field of eight to be closest at the finish.

“He impressed me yesterday,” trainer John Sadler said Sunday morning.

Royal Ship raced behind horses along the inside on the backstretch and turn before jockey Mike Smith moved the 5-year-old toward open space on the rail in the stretch. Royal Ship made some progress on the leaders, but the performance left trainer Richard Mandella disappointed.

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“I thought he was going to win,” Mandella said. “He hung a little bit.

“It was the first time he got crowded around like that. He might have been a little unsettled. We hope to do better.”

Track officials expect horses from other circuits to be part of the Pacific Classic because of the availability of the BC Classic berth.

Shirreffs, well known as the trainer of Zenyatta, the popular Horse of the Year in 2010, has had four runners in the Pacific Classic, including his 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, who was sixth in 2006. Last year, Shirreffs and the Searings ran Midcourt, who finished third.

Midcourt won an allowance race at a mile at Santa Anita on June 18 in his 2021 debut, but is not scheduled to start in the Pacific Classic. Shirreffs said Midcourt needs to be treated with anti-bleeder medication, which is not allowed in the stakes in California, or in races that include Breeders’ Cup automatic berths.

Shirreffs said he does not have a race goal in mind for Midcourt.

“I have to build him up slowly,” Shirreffs said. “So many factors can cause a horse to bleed. We have to eliminate some of those things – stress and overtraining - and build him up a little. On his day, he’s really good.”