The Pacific Classic Stakes is a

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

American

Thoroughbred horse race Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

for three-year-olds and older over a distance of one and one quarter miles on the dirt track scheduled annually in August at

Del Mar Racetrack The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a event venue in Del Mar, California. The annual San Diego County Fair is held here, which was called the Del Mar Fair from 1984 to 2001. In 1936, the Del Mar Racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club with foundin ...

Del Mar, California Del Mar (; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach town in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The Del Mar Horse Races are hosted on the De ...

. The event currently carries a purse of $1,000,000.

History

The event was inaugurated on 10 August 1991 with a purse of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 million and immediately became the premier event of the racing season at Del Mar. The first running was won by the 1990 California Horse of the Year three year old

Best Pal Best Pal (February 12, 1988 – November 24, 1998) was an American Hall of Fame champion racehorse, who retired as the all time record for purses of any California-bred earning (since surpassed) for his owners, the Golden Eagle Farm, US$5.6 milli ...

in a time of 1:59. Best Pal would run two more times finishing third to Bertrando in 1993 and second to Tinners Way in 1994. The event was classified as

for the third running in 1993 and has held that class since. Notable among the runnings of the race was the 1996 renewal that saw champion

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

attempt to best

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

's mark of 16 straight victories, but fall to a shocking upset by the unheralded 39-1 Dare And Go and jockey Alex Solis. Another exciting running saw Hall of Fame Jockey

Julie Krone Julieann Louise Krone (born July 24, 1963), is a retired American jockey. In 1993, she became the first (and so far only) female jockey to win a Triple Crown race when she captured the Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair. In 2000, she became the ...

become the first female rider to win a million-dollar race when she guided Sid and Jenny Craig's undefeated

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

bred

Candy Ride Candy Ride (foaled September 27, 1999 in Argentina) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse who went undefeated in six starts on both turf and dirt racing surfaces in Argentina and the United States. In Argentina, he won the Gran Premio San Isidro a ...

to victory in track record time of 1:59:11. It would be Candy Ride's last race as injury would force him to retire prematurely. Del Mar switched its main racing surface from dirt to synthetic

Polytrack The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: *Turf, the most common track surface in Europe *Dirt, the most common track ...

in 2007 and the Pacific Classic winner that year was long-shot Student Council, who was handled by veteran

Richard Migliore Richard Migliore (born March 14, 1964 in Babylon, New York) is a retired American jockey. He now works as a racing analyst for XBTV. He was nicknamed "The Mig," which is a type of Russian fighter jet, for his tenacious style of riding. He lives ...

. Starting in 2008, the TVG Pacific Classic became a part of the

Breeders' Cup Challenge The Breeders' Cup Challenge is a series of Thoroughbred horse races in which the winner earns an automatic spot in a specified Breeders' Cup race. The challenge races change somewhat each year. The Challenge series began in 2007 with 24 "Win and Yo ...

, where the winner of the race would automatically earn a spot in the

Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-olds and older run at a distance of on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships in late October o ...

. has become one of the top prizes for older horses racing in the United States each year. In 2015 Beholder became the first filly or mare to win the event. She won by lengths with a final time of 1:59.77, against an otherwise all-male field of nine other horses, including 2014

winner

Bayern Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. She won in the third-fastest winning time in the history of the race, and with the second-largest margin of victory at that time, behind the 2013 win of

Game On Dude Game On Dude (foaled April 26, 2007 in Kentucky) is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse gelding. He won fourteen graded stakes races, including eight Grade I stakes: the Santa Anita Handicap in 2011, 2013, and 2014 the only horse to have wo ...

. In 2018 Accelerate would win by an even greater margin of lengths. In 2016

California Chrome California Chrome (foaled February 18, 2011) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and 2016 Dubai World Cup. He was the 2014 and 2016 American Horse of the Year. In 2016, he surpassed ...

became the first Kentucky Derby winner to win the event.

Records

Time record: * 1:59.11 -

(2003) Largest Margin * lengths - Flightline (2022) Most wins: * 2 - Tinners Way (1994, 1995) * 2 - Skimming (2000, 2001) * 2 - Richard's Kid (2009, 2010) Most wins by an owner: * 4 -

Juddmonte Farms Juddmonte Farms is a horse breeding farm, owned until his death on 12th January 2021 by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.National Thoroughbred Racing Association"Juddmonte Farms, Inc.", profile. Retrieved October 16, 2007. Overview Ju ...

(1994, 1995, 2000, 2001) * 4 - Hronis Racing (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) Most wins by a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

: * 4 - Garrett K. Gomez (2000, 2001, 2005, 2008) * 4 -

Mike E. Smith Michael Earl Smith (born August 10, 1965) is an American jockey who has been one of the leading riders in U.S. Thoroughbred racing since the early 1990s, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003, and has won the ...

(2002, 2009, 2010, 2014) Most wins by a trainer: * 6 - Robert J. Frankel (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001) * 6 -

Bob Baffert Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakne ...

(1999, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2020)

Winners

''Legend:''

''Notes:''
§ Ran as part of an entry
ƒ Filly or mare
† Game On Dude's 2013 actual winning time according to "Trakus time" is 1:59.26.

References

{{reflist

External links

2020 Del Mar Media Guide

Pacific Classic details at Del Mar website

Ten Things You Should Know About the Pacific Classic at Hello Race Fans
Del Mar Racetrack Horse races in California Open middle distance horse races Grade 1 stakes races in the United States Breeders' Cup Challenge series Recurring events established in 1991 1991 establishments in California

History

Records

Winners

See also

References

External links