In 11 starts since early 2023, the brilliant mare Adare Manor has been ridden only by Juan Hernandez. Through that span, Hernandez, the leading rider in Southern California, has guided Adare Manor to eight wins in 11 starts, including three Grade 1 victories at Del Mar and Oaklawn Park. The success has left Hernandez confident Adare Manor can handle two challenges for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar – facing males and racing at 1 1/4 miles. “She really likes a mile and an eighth and she’s a big filly,” Hernandez said on Tuesday. “I don’t see any problem with the distance.” Trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert for Michael Lund Petersen, Adare Manor is part of a field of nine entered in the $1 million Pacific Classic, the track’s most lucrative annual race. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic over the same track and distance on Nov. 2. The entries include There Goes Harvard, who was supplemented for $10,000 on Tuesday, the same day the 6-year-old was sold privately by Michael and Jennifer Cannon to the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber. Post positions were drawn on Tuesday afternoon. From the inside, the field consists of Il Miracolo, There Goes Harvard, Dr. Venkman, Reincarnate, Katonah, Full Serrano, Adare Manor, None Above the Law, and Mixto. All but Mixto are stakes winners. :: DRF's Del Mar Handicapping Packages: Get everything you need to play the races with confidence. Adare Manor is the 9-5 favorite on the morning line. Baffert, who has won the Pacific Classic a record seven times, also starts Reincarnate, who is 8-1. Dr. Venkman, the 5-2 second choice, won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on July 27, the longest race of his career. Adare Manor, 5, will be the first filly or mare to start in the Pacific Classic since Beholder finished second to the mighty California Chrome in 2016. Beholder, a four-time champion, won the 2015 Pacific Classic. She was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2022. Adare Manor, who has won 10 of 18 starts and earned $2,096,600, is capable of setting the pace or racing from a stalking position. She closed from fourth of eighth to win the Clement Hirsch by 2 3/4 lengths in an eye-catching manner. “Last time, she showed what she can do,” Hernandez said. “She can rate behind horses. She’s really smart.” Adare Manor is already a Grade 1 winner at Del Mar this summer, having won the $401,500 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 3 for her third consecutive graded stakes win. There Goes Harvard will remain with current trainer Michael McCarthy, but is not a definite starter in the Pacific Classic. Aron Wellman, the president of the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate, said on Tuesday afternoon that his group has received permission from track officials and the stewards to also enter There Goes Harvard in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf. There Goes Harvard must be declared for one of those races by 10 a.m. on Thursday, scratch time for Saturday’s program that begins at 1:30 p.m. Pacific. Wellman said the deal to acquire There Goes Harvard happened rapidly in a 48-hour period ending midday on Tuesday. He said the purchase price was private. A 6-year-old, There Goes Harvard has won 4 of 17 starts and earned $484,590. There Goes Harvard is winless in five starts since the lone stakes win of his career in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at Santa Anita in May 2022. There Goes Harvard did not race for 15 months from March 2023 until May of this year because of a series of setbacks, including an illness. In two starts this year, There Goes Harvard finished a promising fourth in his comeback in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 27, and last of nine after a troubled trip in the stretch in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on July 28. “We feel like we’re buying a legitimate prospect for the future,” Wellman said. “We feel there is plenty of run left in him at a high level. “I always love horses with back class that I feel have more run left in them.” The field does not include Midnight Mammoth, the winner of the Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on July 25 who was an intended starter. Trainer Craig Dollase said on Tuesday morning that Midnight Mammoth was found to have a “little minor issue” after a half-mile breeze in 47.40 seconds at Del Mar on Aug. 25. “We think it may be a foot,” Dollase said. “We’re not 100 percent. We’re taking diagnostics.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.