NOTES FROM THE BEACH

CALIFORNIA CHROME, DORTMUND PUT IN FINAL WORKS FOR CLASSIC

California Chrome and Dortmund, the 1-2 finishers at the end of a heart rate-accelerating stretch duel in the San Diego Handicap on July 23, put in their final works Sunday for a rematch in next Saturday’s $1 million TVG Pacific Classic.

California Chrome, North American racing’s top all-time money earner and No. 1 ranked active runner, went five furlongs in 1:00.20 under exercise rider Dihigi Gladney at Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County, the headquarters for the stable of trainer Art Sherman.

Dortmund, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and third behind American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby last year, worked seven furlongs in 1:24.60 under Rafael Bejarano for trainer Bob Baffert at Del Mar.

 After the work, Baffert said that Bejarano would ride Dortmund in the Pacific Classic and the 4-year-old son of Big Brown owned by Kaleem Shah would be the lone representative from the Baffert stable. Baffert had also nominated Hoppertunity and Arrogate to the Classic.

Sherman’s hand-timed splits for California Chrome during the workout were :12.00, :24.00 and :36 “and change.”

“He looked good and finished strong,” Sherman said via telephone. “We’re ready.”

California  Chrome will travel to Del Mar on Monday with an expected mid-morning arrival time.

Dortmund worked in company with Drefong, breaking off a length behind, stalking two or three lengths behind for the first two furlongs then drawing even in upper stretch and staying that way past the finish line.

Track clockers had Dortmund in splits of :12.00, :23.80, :36.40, :59.80 and 1:11.60. Drefong was given 1:12.00 for six furlongs.

“(Dortmund) worked very nicely, we’re very happy with it,” Baffert said.

In other Pacific Classic news:

Trainer Richard Mandella said defending champion Beholder would have a short and easy work Tuesday or Wednesday.

Trainer Richard Baltas said that Imperative was probable to run in the Classic  for  a third straight year and for a third different rider. Norberto Arroyo Jr., has the mount following Kent Desormeaux in 2014 and Corey Nakatani in 2015.


JOCKEY RACE TIGHTENS UP; TRAINER’S A CLOSE  ONE AS WELL

The absence of jockey standings leader Flavien Prat, away riding the Arlington Million Day card in Chicago, was duly noted and taken advantage of  by  pursuers Santiago Gonzalez and Rafael Bejarano on Saturday.

Gonzalez notched four wins, Bejarano three and Prat’s margin, once six over Gonzalez and nine over Bejarano, was reduced to one and three respectively.

Gonzalez’s victories came aboard County Lineman (1st, $6.00), Look Twice (6th, $10.80),  Brainspin (9th, $21.60) and X S Heat (10th, $23.60). Bejarano scored a dead-heat victory with Te Rapa (3rd, $2.80) and with Seve’s Road (5th, $8.20) and Klimt (Best Pal Stakes, $4.00).

 Prat returned Sunday morning from an Arlington venture that produced only a pair of fifth-place results in six assignments. He’s booked on mounts in eight  races on the Del Mar card.

Prat starts the day with 21 wins, Gonzalez has 20 and four-time defending meet champion Bejarano 18.

Phil D’Amato, Bob Baffert and John Sadler all  saddled one winner on Saturday. D’Amato has a two-win lead (11-9) over Baffert, Sadler and Mark Glatt.


BAFFERT’S CERF DUO BACK TO WORK IN WEDNESDAY STAKES

 Bob Baffert has only won the Rancho Bernardo Handicap twice.

 A low total for the Hall of Fame trainer in a stakes here compared to the eight victories in the Best Pal Stakes (most recently with Klimt on Saturday) and 12 Del Mar Futurity triumphs.

So Baffert will look to win the Rancho Bernardo for the first time since Behaving Badly went back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 when he sends out  Pretty N Cool and Enchanting Lady, 1-2 finishers in the CERF Stakes on July 20, in Wednesday’s Grade III $100,000 feature.

The Rancho Bernardo is 6 1/2 furlongs, a half-furlong longer than the CERF.

The field, from the rail out: Lost Bus (Fernando Perez), Tara’s Tango (Martin Garcia), Sensitively (Tyler Baze), Enchanting Lady (Rafael Bejarano), Pretty N Cool (Mike Smith), Coniah (Drayden Van Dyke) and Finest City (Kent Desormeaux).


TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC DAY ON SATURDAY

– First post 2:05 p.m.
– Eleven races
– TVG Pacific Classic is race No. 9
– Approximate time for TVG Pacific Classic is 6:10 p.m.
– Gates open officially at 11:30 a.m.
– Daybreak at Del Mar will take place from 7:30-9:30 a.m.
– Valet parking begins at 9:30 a.m.
– General parking begins at 7 a.m., main gate
– Main Gate opens at 7 a.m., Solana Gate opens at 10 a.m.
– Double Decker busses from Solana Train Station begin at 8:30 a.m.


CLOSERS – Selected works from 227 on dirt and 28 on turf officially timed Sunday morning: Dirt – Big Cazanova (3f, :35.80), Milton Freewater (4f, :48.80), Arrogate (5f, 1:01.60), Living The Life (5f, :57.80), Midnight Storm (5f, 1:01.40), Minster’sadventure (5f, 1:00.00), R Sunday Surprise (5f, 1:00.60), Toews On Ice (5f, 1:01.80), Drefong (6f, 1:12.00), Dortmund (7f, 1:24.60), Masochistic (7f, 1:25.00); Turf – Entrechat (4f, :49.40), Flamboyant (5f, 1:02.80), Justin Squared (5f, 1:00.40), Mokat (5f, 1:00.80), Obviously (5f, 1:00.60), Nancy From Nairobi (6f, 1:14.60), Stays In Vegas (6f, 1:13.80).