Pacific Classic win would cap Bejarano's return to top

DEL MAR, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano bounds through the stable area every morning as if he’s an apprentice rider just starting out, rather than an established veteran whose résumé includes five Breeders’ Cup wins, six summer riding titles here at Del Mar, and who two months ago won his 4,000th race.

He’ll work as few as three and as many as seven horses in a morning, every morning, Mondays and Tuesdays included. His drive is born of wanting to return to the perch he occupied earlier this decade, when he was winningest rider on this circuit.

:: Get PPs, Clocker Reports, picks, and more from DRF's Saratoga/Del Mar One-Stop Shop

A broken hand in March 2018 that kept him out of action for seven weeks was the latest setback Bejarano has had to overcome. Last summer at Del Mar, still on the comeback trail, he won just 11 of 122 starts and finished out of the top 10. It was a slog. But he has come roaring back this year. Bejarano already has 14 wins and trails only Flavien Prat and Drayden Van Dyke in the jockeys’ standings.

“It looks like he’s caught his stride,” trainer John Sadler said.

On Saturday, Bejarano will try to continue his ascent when he teams with Sadler and the 4-year-old colt Campaign in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic. It is the biggest race of the meet. It also is a race Bejarano never has won in nine previous tries, making him the jockey with the most mounts in the 1 1/4-mile race without a victory.

“It would mean a lot to me,” Bejarano said between working horses at Carla Gaines’s barn. “It’s always nice to win a big race.”

Bejarano has won plenty of them at Del Mar. He has 61 stakes wins here, placing him 12th all-time. He won 13 stakes the summer of 2012, a single-season record. But after winning or tying for the riding title five straight summers through 2016, Bejarano’s business slumped, compromised by a series of injuries.

“There’s a lot of competition,” Bejarano said. “After I broke my hand, and the accidents I had, I lost a lot of business. It was hard to get going again. All I can do is keep working hard. Little by little I’m getting my business back.

“If you don’t have good horses, you can’t show your talent,” Bejarano said. “Horses put you on top. They key in this business is you have to win. When you win, it’s good.”

Trainer Doug O’Neill has been an unwavering supporter of Bejarano, through all the ups and downs. One of Bejarano’s two stakes wins this meet came aboard the O’Neill-trained Lynne’s Legacy in the Solana Beach Stakes.

“He’s probably the most professional jockey I’ve ever worked with,” O’Neill said. “He comes to the paddock so prepared. He knows what every horse in the race is supposed to do. He has great energy. I’m a big believer that horses pick up on that. He has good, positive vibes, and horses feed off it.

“I like a rider who wants to figure out how to do things better. He’ll get off a horse and tell me what he’s learned – the horse doesn’t like the inside, things that like. He’s a huge asset in helping to improve your horse. And his work ethic is unbelievable. He’s here every morning, with the work ethic of a guy who’s trying to pay the rent.”

That work ethic helped Bejarano land the mount on Campaign.

“He worked him one morning at Santa Anita and he really worked well for him,” Sadler recalled. “It was just kind of a coincidence that he worked him that morning. He was trying to build his business back up.”

Campaign won first time out under Bejarano in a second-level allowance Feb. 3 at Santa Anita. They subsequently were fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap on April 6, then eight days later won the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup. Campaign made his next start in the Brooklyn on June 8 at Belmont Park, for which Bejarano stayed in California, but they were reunited here July 24, winning the Grade 3 Cougar II at 1 1/2 miles while rallying from last in the five-horse field.

“He rides well from off the pace,” Sadler said of Bejarano. “This horse has that style. Rafael has been patient with him. He’s got the sense of timing of just when to push on him.”

Bejarano is 3 for 4 on Campaign, and a victory over the track earlier in the meet gives Bejarano the confidence another big effort is in the offing Saturday.

“I really love my horse,” he said. “The distance helps a lot.”

They are made for each other. Campaign, like Bejarano, is playing the long game.