GO BETWEEN TAKES PACIFIC CLASSIC
Garrett Gomez capped a huge weekend Sunday at Del Mar, winning the $1-million Pacific Classic aboard Peter Vegso’s Go Between, who wore down Well Armed in the final sixteenth of a mile to win by a neck. Mast Track finished third and Zappa was fourth in the 18th running of the mile and a quarter contest, whose winner gained an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic by taking one of the "Win and You’re In" challenge races.
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(DEL MAR’S SUNDAY EQUIBASE CHARTS)
Gomez won Saturday’s $1-million Travers Stakes at Saratoga by a nose aboard Colonel John for WinStar Farm, then beat WinStar, the owner of Well Armed, in the Pacific Classic.
Barcola took the early lead in the Pacific Classic under Corey Nakatani, setting fractions of :23.40 for the quarter-mile, :47.36 for the half, and 1:12.20 for six furlongs. Well Armed sat to Barcola’s outside flank for most of the running, with Surf Cat to his inside. Go Between was taken well off the early pace, racing third from last in the field of 10 older horses (after the scratch of McCann’s Mojave due to a minor injury).
When the field straightened for home, the mile clocked in 1:37.06, jockey Aaron Gryder moved Well Armed to the front, but Go Between was in full stride out in the middle of the track, circling the field and steadily cutting into the lead. The 5-year-old Florida-bred son of Point Given caught Well Armed inside the sixteenth pole and began to edge away for the win, his eighth in 26 starts. Time for the 10 furlongs on Polytrack was 2:01.18.
The winner is a well-traveled horse who has excelled on turf and synthetic tracks for Vegso and Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott. He won the Grade 3 Fayette on Keeneland’s Polytrack last October and the Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita on Cushion Track in January. He was narrowly beaten by Heatseeker in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and second to Mast Track in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup June 28 (also on Cushion Track) in his most recent start. Between those two races, Go Between finished second in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Ben Ali.
Go Between trained up to the Pacific Classic at Churchill Downs.
It was the fourth Pacific Classic victory for jockey Gomez and the first for Mott, who is best remembered at Del Mar for bringing Allen Paulson’s Cigar to the 1996 Pacific Classic in search of his record 17th consecutive victory. But Cigar’s streak ended that day when he was upset by the Richard Mandella-trained Dare and Go. This was Mott’s first Pacific Classic runner since 1996.
Go Between earned $600,000 for owner-breeder Vegso, the publisher of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" inspirational book series. It boosted his lifetime earnings to $2,783,880. Go Between paid $7.60 for the win as the 5-2 favorite.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: bill mott, chicken soup for the soul, cigar, dare and go, Del Mar, garrett gomez, go between, mast track, pacific classic, Paulick Report, peter vegso, Ray Paulick, well armed, winstar farm, zappa