2010 Pacific Classic and Del Mar Mile Weekend
The most celebrated weekend at Del Mar witnessed four graded thoroughbred races. All these races were stakes and all the races were featured. The most important of these were the Pacific Classic which contained a purse of 1 million dollars. Richard’s Kid won them for a second time running. Pacific Classic is a Grade I race and took place on the 28th of August at the Del Mar Race Course in California.
Race winner Richard’s Kid is the son of the racing colt, Lemon Drop Kid, and was sent out to run at the Pacific Classic as a 9 to 2 choice. The colt was run by jockey Mike Smith. The five year old race horse maintained the same pace and ran in a somewhat similar manner as the colt did in the Pacific Classic last year. Richard’s Kid defeated the 12 to 1 choice horse called Crowded House by less than a quarter-length towards the end of the race.
The repeat victory of Richard’s Kid at the Pacific Classic has automatically qualified the race horse for the Breeder’s Cup Classic. The horse is under the training of renowned trainer Bob Baffert. The Breeder’s Cup Classic will be run at the Churchill Downs Race Course in the beginning of November this year.
The talented race horse, The Usual Q.T. finished in the fifth place in this race, even though he was leading in the first few stretches of the race. The horse was sent out as 5 to 2 favourite. This was the sixth race over the synthetic surface which was lost by The Usual Q.T. however the colt has won eight of his ten starts over the dirt track.
Dakota Phone, under jockey Joel Rosario was the third place finisher in the Pacific Classic. The jockey managed to win the other three stakes which were run at the Del Mar Race Track this weekend. Dakota Phone was one of the ten horses that ran in the Pacific Classic. The colt is the son of the seasoned race horse Zavata and had previously won the Grade II San Diego Handicap and could have easily taken over the other nine contenders in the Classic but he could not somehow take the lead since the very beginning of the race. The horse was sent out as the 8 to 1 favourite in the Pacific Classic.
Before the Pacific Classic, another race took place at the Del Mar Race Course. This meet took place earlier in the day and was run over a dirt track. Enriched took the lead since the very beginning of the race as he was sent as the 2 to 1 choice and he held back the 7 to 1 favourite Meteore by a length of three quarters. Enriched was trained by Doug O’ Neill. The race had a purse of 250,000 dollars and is called the Del Mar Mile.
O’ Neill had previously trained the 5-year-old colt and son of the talented race horse High Brite, won the Breeders’ Cup Mile which had a purse of only 32,000 dollars last year. O’ Neill had also been the trainer of the famous race horse Lava Man which is the elder son of High Brite. Lava Man won a total of over 5 million dollars for his trainer Doug O’ Neill.
The third place finisher in the Del Mar Mile was Bruce’s Dream, who was sent out as a 2 to 1 favourite. The horse gave a brilliant performance at the race and his pace was commendable. It was just a few stretches that kept Bruce’s Dream from winning the race.
Towards the closing of the weekend at the Del Mar Race Track, California was the Grade II Del Mar Handicap which took place on Sunday. The race carried a purse of 200,000 dollars and was run over a distance of 1 mile and 3/8 of a mile on a dirt track.
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