The Pacific Classic

Dateline: 08/23/00

The Grade 1 Pacific Classic is the highlight of the Del Mar summer stakes calendar. The $1 million race at the classic American distance of 1 1/4 miles for the 3 year olds and up will have its 10th running on Saturday August 26th.

General Challenge

River Keen

Last year's winner, General Challenge, will be back to defend his title against 7 rivals. The California bred 4 year old now has 9 wins in 17 starts with $2.8 million in earnings to his credit and is especially tough to beat in his home state. He will be joined by his stablemate River Keen to make a powerful 1-2 punch for trainer Bob Baffert. Shippers have not fared too well in past runnings, at least as far as winning goes, as this race brought Cigar's 16 race win streak to an end in 1996. Trainer Elliott Walden will try to break that jinx by sending in Ecton Park from New York while Kathleen O'Connell will ship in Blazing Sword from Chicago.

Post time for the race will be approximately 4:15pm PDT and the race will be broadcast on TVG and Fox Sports West from 3:30 to 4:30pm PDT. If you are not fortunate enough to get those stations, you can also catch the broadcast live online (audio or video) from Del Mar. Past performances will be available free from Daily Racing Form and Glenners will have his selections available late Friday.

The Pacific Classic

Conditions: Grade 1, purse $1,000,000, distance 1 1/4 miles on the dirt.

Number	Horse	Weight	Jockey	Trainer	M/L Odds
1	River Keen	124	Espinoza	Baffert	15-1
2	General Challenge	124	Nakatani	Baffert	9-5
3	Euchre	124	Flores	Frankel	8-1
4	Tiznow	117	McCarron	Robbins	5-1
5	Skimming	124	Gomez	Frankel	5-2
6	Ecton Park	124	Desormeaux	Walden	7-2
7	Forty One Carats	124	Delahoussaye	Fawkes	12-1

About.com Poll Who will win the Pacific Classic? River Keen General Challenge Euchre Tiznow Skimming Ecton Park Forty One Carats Current Results

More Pacific Classic articles and info:

• Del Mar
• DRF Del Mar coverage
• Daily Del Mar Journal from Thoroughbred Times
• Pacific Classic from Equibase - free program, past performances, ChartPlus, and articles
• Past performances and Thoro-Graph sheets from DRF
• Glenners' Picks (available Friday)
• Del Mar essentials - entries, results, charts, etc.
• Pacific Classic Festival - a week long celebration
• Current weather
• Scratches and changes
• Results Chart from Equibase (available late Saturday)
• News Index Search to find Pacific Classic articles
• Pacific Classic winners
• Del Mar Preview an overview of the meet with lots of links to Del Mar info
• San Diego - local info from About.com

Graphic courtesy of Del Mar, photos by author

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