Sadler mapping route to BC Classic for Higher Power

DEL MAR, Calif. – The lawn jockey in the center of the paddock at Del Mar for the past year has been painted in the colors of Hronis Racing, who won last year’s Pacific Classic with Accelerate. After Saturday’s win by Higher Power, there’s no need to ask Sherwin Williams.

“We saved them money,” trainer John Sadler said Sunday morning. “They don’t need to paint it.”

Sadler and brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis won the Pacific Classic for the second straight year, with Higher Power following in the footsteps of Accelerate. He romped by 5 1/4 lengths, and earned a first prize of $600,000, a Beyer Speed Figure of 107, and a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Sadler and the Hronises won the Classic with Accelerate last year, at Churchill Downs.

Higher Power’s victory, the development of Fawree – who won an allowance race Saturday – and the return to training of Santa Anita Handicap winner Gift Box following a minor setback gives Sadler a strong hand in the local older horse division in coming months.

Sadler said Higher Power looked good Sunday morning. He said he likely would work Higher Power once at Del Mar – whose closing day is Sept. 2 – before leaving for Santa Anita and formulating a concrete race plan.

“Every horse is different,” he said. “Two years ago Accelerate had too much spacing coming into the Breeders’ Cup, and it didn’t go well. Last year we prepped in the Awesome Again, and it set him up well. We’re in a good spot with this horse. We’ll get up to Santa Anita, wait and see what’s what.”

Gift Box will be on a similar work schedule, Sadler said. He has not raced since finishing fourth in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 15. “Hopefully we’ll breeze him once before we leave here, then train him at Santa Anita and see what to do,” Sadler said.

Fawree earned himself a chance in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, Sadler said, after recording his third straight victory on Saturday. He won a $20,000 claiming race on May 24, then a starter allowance at Los Alamitos July 6 before a second-level allowance win Saturday, all since Sadler took over as his trainer.

“I think dirt,” Sadler said when asked why Fawree, a 5-year-old gelding by Candy Ride, had suddenly blossomed. “He had been running on synthetic up north. He got a huge fig in the starter allowance. He’ll get a shot in the Awesome Again.”