Mandella looks to add a fifth Pacific Classic win to four memorable ones

DEL MAR, Calif. – For more than a year, trainer Richard Mandella had been trying to beat Cigar, going across the country and around the world in that futile quest, from Oaklawn Park to Hollywood Park, to Belmont Park and finally Nad al Sheba. He had found him, as Tom Durkin famously said in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic, to be “unconquerable, unbeatable, invincible.”

So when Cigar rolled into town here at Del Mar 25 years ago, accompanied by a police escort, for the sixth running of the Pacific Classic, expectations were realistic. Cigar had won 16 straight races, from an allowance race at Aqueduct in October 1994 through the Citation Challenge at Arlington in July 1996, 10 of those races Grade 1, including that 1995 Classic, which secured for Cigar the title as Horse of the Year.

And then the week of the Pacific Classic, Mandella’s seemingly best older horse, Soul of the Matter, who had given a serious scare to Cigar five months earlier in the inaugural Dubai World Cup and had finished second in the 1995 Pacific Classic, suffered a career-ending ligament injury to his right front ankle.

Instead of a three-headed monster, Mandella was down to two runners – Siphon, the race’s second choice at 6-1 to the 1-10 Cigar, and Dare and Go, at 39-1 the second-longest shot in the field of six.

“I was hoping we could beat him,” Mandella recalled in a recent interview in his Del Mar barn office. “But nobody had beaten him for 16 starts. It was foolish to think we could do it. But I knew I had two good horses.”

What transpired the afternoon of Aug. 10, 1996, ranks as the greatest upset in the history this track. Dare and Go, benefitting from a sharp pace set by Siphon that Cigar pressed, rolled past his two spent rivals and powered home 3 1/2 lengths best, leaving the packed grandstand eerily silent except for the few shouts from Dare and Go’s backers and connections. His $81.20 mutuel remains the highest in the 30 editions of the Pacific Classic.

“Dare and Go ran the race of his life that day,” Mandella said. “I was surprised Cigar didn’t win, and we did.”

Mandella has since won the Pacific Classic three more times, and on Saturday he’ll go for his fifth, again with two entrants, Royal Ship and Tizamagician. If he gets that fifth victory, he’ll be one behind Bob Baffert and the late Bobby Frankel – like Mandella fellow Hall of Famers – for most Pacific Classic victories.

Mandella has compiled a terrific record in Del Mar’s signature race for older horses. In addition to his four wins, he has finished second in the race five times, including a one-two finish by Gentlemen and Siphon in 1997. His victories include Pleasantly Perfect in 2004, and the great mare Beholder in 2016.

Dare and Go’s win was startling both because Cigar seemed unstoppable, and the current form of Dare and Go seemed a cut below. Although Dare and Go had won the 1 1/4-mile Strub Stakes at Santa Anita in February 1995, he had won just once in six subsequent starts, and had finished a well-beaten fifth behind stablemate Siphon in the 1 1/4-mile Hollywood Gold Cup six weeks before the Pacific Classic.

That Gold Cup, though, proved pivotal to the way the Pacific Classic unfolded. In the Gold Cup, Siphon led from start to finish over Geri, who ran on for second. Geri was owned by Allen Paulson, trained by Bill Mott, and ridden by Jerry Bailey, the same team as Cigar. Their fear that Siphon could emulate the Gold Cup performance in the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic resulted in Cigar going on the attack.

Siphon led early, but Cigar was on his flank, with Dramatic Gold also applying pressure, through fractions of 23 seconds for the quarter, 45.80 for the half, and 1:09.20 for six furlongs. Dare and Go settled into fourth under Alex Solis. On the far turn, he started closing in on his battle-weary rivals.

“You could see it happening on the middle of the far turn,” Mandella said. “Alex asked him to run. Dare and Go got lower and powered like a sports car and motored home.”

Cigar won the battle, beating Siphon by seven lengths, but lost the war.

“Siphon would have been better if Cigar hadn’t gone with him. And Cigar would have been better if Siphon hadn’t gone,” Mandella said. “They let Siphon get away with Geri in the Gold Cup. They figured he was the horse to beat.”

Siphon returned for the 1997 Pacific Classic, but could only finish second. Mandella was satisfied, though, as his new star, Gentlemen, won the race, emulating the one-two finish of his two South American imports in the Hollywood Gold Cup five weeks earlier. That Pacific Classic victory came during a stretch of eight wins in nine starts for Gentlemen.

“He was a really top-class horse, turf and dirt,” Mandella said. “The only days he ran terrible was when he bled.”

The most significant, and costly, episode came in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic, at Churchill Downs. Owing to rules at the time, since greatly relaxed, Gentlemen had to be supplemented to the race for $800,000. Despite racing on Lasix, he bled so badly he was eased, and he never raced again.

Pleasantly Perfect won the 2004 Pacific Classic following major victories the previous fall in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and earlier in 2004 in the Dubai World Cup. He was a late developer, owing to having pericarditis as a young horse.

“It took him a good year and a half to get over that,” Mandella said. “Once he got over his heart problems, he was top-class.”

Beholder, Mandella’s most recent Pacific Classic winner, will be a slam-dunk first ballot Hall of Famer when she becomes eligible next year. Her 2015 Pacific Classic victory came during a streak in which she won 12 of 13 starts, en route to a career mark of 18 for 26. It was her first stakes start against males, and came just three weeks after a seven-length romp against older females in Del Mar’s championship race for that division, the Clement Hirsch.

“I had been giving it some thought, and when she won the Clement Hirsch I said right then we’d go to the Pacific Classic,” Mandella said.

Beholder was dazzling. Third early under Gary Stevens, Beholder cut loose on the far turn – “She took Gary there. He was standing up when she did it,” Mandella said – and blew the race open in upper stretch, then cruised home 8 1/4 lengths best.

Beholder tried to defend her title in the 2016 Pacific Classic, and though she ran well and finished in front of seven males, she had to settle for second, five lengths behind California Chrome.

Two starts later, in her career finale, Beholder won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita to secure her fourth Eclipse Award.

Of this year’s candidates for Mandella, Royal Ship looks stronger. Like most South American imports, he needed time to acclimate after arriving here midway through 2020, but he’s shown he wants every part of 1 1/4 miles, having lost a narrow decision to Country Grammer in the Hollywood Gold Cup after beating that rival in the nine-furlong Californian.

“He’s doing really well,” said Mandella, who said he thinks Royal Ship is continuing to improve.

Tizamagician has been a longer-term project. He took six tries to defeat maidens, but with experience and additional real estate has progressed. He owns two wins and a second in his last three starts, all stakes, all at 1 1/2 miles. His only try in Grade 1 company, at 1 1/4 miles, resulted in a fifth-place finish earlier this year in the Santa Anita Handicap.

“He’s got the mile and half down,” Mandella said. “I’m not sure how that’ll transfer to a mile and quarter.

“But he’s doing well, so it’s worth taking a shot.”

Kind of like his approach with Dare and Go.