Imperative gets green light for San Diego Handicap
DEL MAR, Calif. - Imperative, the winner of the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia earlier this year, earned a start in the $300,000 San Diego Handicap on July 26 after a five-furlong workout on Del Mar’s Polytrack on Saturday.
Imperative was timed in 1:01 under jockey Kent Desormeaux. The exercise left trainer George Papaprodromou eager for the San Diego.
“Kent said he never felt like that before,” Papaprodromou said. “The way he worked today was impressive. We’ll go for the San Diego and, hopefully, we can go from there to the Pacific Classic.”
The $1 million Pacific Classic is run over 1 1/4 miles and is the richest race of the Del Mar meeting. The Grade 2 San Diego Handicap is run over 1 1/16 miles.
Owned by Kenji Morinaga, Imperative was third in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28, finishing eight lengths behind Majestic Harbor, a candidate for the Pacific Classic.
Papaprodromou scolded himself after that race for not doing more with Imperative between the Charles Town Classic on April 19 and the Gold Cup.
“He looked like he needed the race in the Gold Cup,” Papaprodromou said.
Imperative would be part of a projected field of eight in the San Diego. Other candidates are Dance With Fate, Fed Biz, Footbridge, Frac Daddy, Fury Kapcori, Handsome Mike, and Soi Phet.
Dance With Fate has not raced since finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby. He was sent to Belmont Park for the Belmont Derby on July 5 but did not start after suffering a mild bout with colic, trainer Peter Eurton said. Saturday, Dance With Fate worked five furlongs in 58.40 seconds, the fastest of 90 recorded works at the distance.
The participation of Handsome Mike is contingent on whether he sells on Sunday evening at the Paddock Sale at Del Mar, trainer Doug O’Neill said. Handsome Mike, the winner of the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby in 2012, has been trained with the San Diego Handicap as an option.
Game On Dude, a winner of 16 of 33 starts who was fourth as the 4-5 favorite in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, will not start in the San Diego, trainer Bob Baffert said. Baffert is pointing Game On Dude for the Pacific Classic, a race the 7-year-old gelding won in 2013.