DEL MAR – Four Pacific Classic prospects put in final workouts yesterday at three venerated racing venues from one end of the country to the other.
At Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., defending race champion Student Council went a half-mile in 49.89 seconds for trainer Steve Asmussen, the No. 1 conditioner in North America for both wins and earnings. Also at Saratoga, Out of Control went five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.12 for Hall of Fame trainer Robert Frankel.
At Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Sunshine Millions Classic winner and Santa Anita Handicap runner-up Go Between worked a half-mile in 48.20 over a fast track for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
Here, Mostacolli Mort, third in the San Diego Handicap on July 19, covered five furlongs in 1:02.60 on the Polytrack main surface.
Out of Control, Student Council and Barcola, who worked at Belmont Park on Saturday, are scheduled to travel here today and Go Between will ship in Wednesday.
Three horses with scheduled final workouts still to be completed, all based here, are Well Armed and Surf Cat, the 1-2 finishers in the San Diego Handicap, and New York import Delosvientos. Well Armed and Surf Cat are set to go today, Delosvientos tomorrow.
A field of 12 is projected. It will be finalized and post positions will be drawn tomorrow.
Notable
The jockeys' race continues to slowly tighten. Fourth-place
Garrett Gomez had two wins yesterday to one apiece for the top trio of
Rafael Bejarano, Joel Rosario and
Tyler Baze. Bejarano has 31 for the meeting, Rosario 28, Baze 26 and Gomez 24. . . . With two more wins yesterday, trainer
John Sadler (24 overall) maintained a comfortable margin over
Mike Mitchell (14),
Jeff Mullins (13) and
Doug O'Neill (13).
Hank Wesch: (619) 293-1853; hank.wesch@uniontrib.com
