SAT.

 Stormy Liberal sprinted on the turf at Del Mar, he secured his first grade 1 win in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1).

Last year, Stormy Liberal used a pair of narrow wins on the five-furlong course at Del Mar—including the Green Flash Handicap—as a foundation to a four-race win streak that culminated in a second straight Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint triumph, this time at Churchill Downs.

Stonestreet Farm
So Stormy Liberal figures to be in his comfort zone Aug. 17 when he attempts to win the Green Flash (now a grade 3 race) a second straight year. A 7-year-old Stormy Atlantic  gelding, Stormy Liberal, as the 125-pound highweight, will spot his five expected rivals two to 11 pounds as he tries to secure his first win of the season.

Not that Stormy Liberal has raced poorly this year. He opened 2019 by finishing second in the Joe Hernandez Stakes (G3T) down the hill at Santa Anita Park and then came up a head short when second in a Feb. 22 allowance race at five furlongs on the Santa Anita turf. That prepped him for a close third-place finish in the Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments (G1), a race won by Blue Point, who in June swept Royal Ascot's group 1 sprints for older horses: the King's Stand (3 and older) and Diamond Jubilee (4 and older) stakes.

As the second two-time winner of the Turf Sprint—joining Mizdirection—Stormy Liberal also has made some history. And, knowing that last year he didn't win a race before the Del Mar meeting, a third straight Turf Sprint win is well within reach for Stormy Liberal and his trainer, Peter Miller.

Saturday's Pacific Classic Day card includes five graded stakes, and the Green Flash will start the stakes schedule as Race 3. Later in the day, 3-year-old fillies going one mile on the main track will be featured in the Torrey Pines Stakes (G3), which will go as Race 8.

In the Torrey Pines, stakes winner Classic Fit has shipped in off a runner-up finish in the Mother Goose Stakes (G2) June 29 at Belmont Park. The Godolphin homebred daughter of Bernardini  led that one-turn, 1 1/16-mile test into the stretch before yielding to Dunbar Road.

Classic Fit wins the 2018 Hut Hut Stakes at Gulfstream Park.                  
Photo: Coglianese Photos/Lauren King
Classic Fit wins the 2018 Hut Hut Stakes at Gulfstream Park.                  
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The Mother Goose was the 2019 debut for the Michael Stidham trainee after she closed her juvenile season with three straight wins, topped by a narrow score in the one-turn-mile Hut Hut Stakes Dec. 8 at Gulfstream Park.


ENTRIES: GREEN FLASH H. (G3T)

Del Mar, Saturday, August 17, 2019, Race 3

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 Calexman (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Geovanni Franco 118 Vladimir Cerin -
2 Stormy Liberal (KY) Drayden Van Dyke 125 Peter Miller -
3 Undrafted (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Victor Espinoza 120 Wesley A. Ward -
4 Shades of Victory (CA) Ruben Fuentes 114 Reed Saldana -
5 Eddie Haskell (CA) Kent J. Desormeaux 123 Mark Glatt -
6 Mr Vargas (FL) Joseph Talamo 117 Brian J. Koriner -

ENTRIES: TORREY PINES S. (G3)

Del Mar, Saturday, August 17, 2019, Race 8

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 Into Chocolate (KY) Mike E. Smith 118 Clifford W. Sise, Jr. -
2 High Regard (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Rafael Bejarano 122 Victoria H. Oliver -
3 Classic Fit (KY) Florent Geroux 120 Michael Stidham -
4 Hollywood Hills (CA) Julien R. Leparoux 120 Steve M. Sherman -
5 Colonial Creed (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Victor Espinoza 122 Richard Baltas -
6 Sneaking Out (CA) Drayden Van Dyke 120 J. Keith Desormeaux -
7 Fighting Mad (KY) Joseph Talamo 120 Bob Baffert -
8 Kim K (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Peter Miller -