Flagstaff gets his distance in Pat O'Brien Stakes
DEL MAR, Calif. – Does a legitimate contender for a Breeders’ Cup race start in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar. And, which BC race?
At seven furlongs around one turn, the Pat O’Brien might seem a curious race to be designated a Win and You’re In for the two-turn BC Dirt Mile. But the main curiosity Saturday happens to be the most probable winner of the Pat O’Brien.
Trainer John Sadler describes Flagstaff as “kind of a tweener” – six furlongs is too short, and two turns is too far. Flagstaff is 1 for 8 at six furlongs. His only route, which came three years ago, was the worst race of his career.
But at the seven-furlong distance of the Pat O’Brien, Flagstaff is top class.
“He’s shown seven-eighths is his best distance,” Sadler said. “I think he can do both [six or seven furlongs], but his best is probably seven.”
They play his game Saturday. Flagstaff, 4 for 6 at seven furlongs including three graded wins and a second in last year’s Pat O’Brien, returns from a short layoff as the most likely winner in a 10-runner field deep on quantity and quality.
C Z Rocket won the 2020 Pat O’Brien and missed by a neck as the favorite last month in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at six furlongs; speedster Brickyard Ride is a Grade 2 winner at seven furlongs and a threat out front; Ginobili dazzled with a meet-high 104 Beyer winning an allowance mile; Howbeit crushed a second-level allowance sprint.
Even longshots in the Pat O’Brien have credentials. Classier and Eight Rings have won age-restricted graded stakes, and Mo Mosa won a Grade 3. Surfing Star and California Street are outsiders.
Flagstaff, 7, would be the oldest horse to win the Pat O’Brien. His recent form supports Sadler’s belief he is “in as good a shape as ever, if not better.”
Flagstaff began the season finishing fourth and third in six-furlong races at Oaklawn, then stretched to seven furlongs and won a Grade 3 at Keeneland and a Grade 1 at Churchill Downs.
His runner-up in a Grade 2 at Belmont Park on June 4 earned the highest Beyer Figure of his career, a 101, after which Sadler and owner Hronis Racing planned the remainder of his campaign. Part of that plan was skipping the July 31 Bing Crosby.
“The idea was we’d like him to be in the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the year,” Sadler said. “Even though I nominated him to the Bing Crosby, I’d already made up my mind we’re just gonna run him once down here. He trained up really well.”
Joe Bravo rides Flagstaff, whose pressing style and outside post (8 of 10) should lead to a great trip within range of the speed. Flagstaff has won seven races and more than $1 million from 20 starts.
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Brickyard Ride set the pace and finished fifth under Juan Hernandez in the six-furlong Bing Crosby.
“I think the track beat him,” trainer Craig Lewis said. “It’s the first time in his career he didn’t switch leads. He bobbled at the break, Juan said he had to use him, and he really couldn’t get a hold of it very good.”
It’s not the first time Brickyard Ride bombed. The enigmatic sprinter wired the Cal Cup Sprint and Grade 2 San Carlos in winter at Santa Anita, lost twice at odds-on, then rebounded to win a Cal-bred sprint stakes with a 104 Beyer.
In his only route, which came in his third start, Brickyard Ride jumped the rail in the stretch. He is an accomplished older horse at age 4, and Lewis looks forward to stretching him back out.
“I think he’ll go two turns,” Lewis said. “I’m dying to try it. He’s a big, long-striding son of a gun. When he gets the lead, he gets comfortable.”
The BC Dirt Mile could be an option for Brickyard Ride, but Lewis cautioned, “I don’t know if that’s the place to try [two turns].”
Owned and bred by Alfred Pais, Brickyard Ride has won eight races and $470,477 from 17 starts.
C Z Rocket’s Beyer Figures in his last two starts are slightly lower than last year’s, but he rarely runs a bad race. He has won seven of 10 starts since being claimed for $50,000 in April 2020. Peter Miller trains the 7-year-old.
Ginobili unleashed one of summer’s most impressive displays of speed opening weekend when he trounced the field in an entry-level allowance mile by more than nine lengths with a 104 Beyer, later matched by Pacific Classic winner Tripoli as highest of the meet.
The challenge facing Ginobili is reproducing a figure from a two-turn mile while breaking from the rail in the one-turn Pat O’Brien.
Howbeit, claimed for $32,000 in February, moves up in class after back-to-back 99 Beyer allowance wins for trainer Mark Glatt.