Pacific Classic 2025
Even though the Pacific Classic is run on the Del Mar dirt, this race really feels like a turf war this year. Journalism already has three wins to his name in California, but Cali-based upstart Nysos is the favorite in Saturday’s “win and in” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Fierceness is shipping from New York on the west coast for just the third time, as he’s already won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and finished second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic in the Golden State.
While it seems unlikely that another horse will spoil the party, five other contenders will try, including some elder statesmen in 7-year-old Tarantino and 8-year-old Lure Him In. One thing is for certain, all eyes will be on this one thanks to the late 6 p.m. PT post time.
This one is Race 10 out of 11 on the Saturday, August 30 program and basically represents the end of a phenomenal day of stakes action around the country.
Pacific Classic Stakes 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Fierceness | J. Velazquez | T. Pletcher | 3-1 |
| 2 | Midnight Mammoth | C. Dollase | A. Ayuso | 12-1 |
| 3 | Ultimate Gamble | K. Kimura | M. Glatt | 20-1 |
| 4 | Nysos | F. Prat | B. Baffert | 8/5 |
| 5 | Indispensible | P. Lopez | J. Sadler | 15-1 |
| 6 | Journalism | U. Rispoli | M. McCarthy | 9/5 |
| 7 | Lure Him In | E. Gonzalez | S. Wilensky | 20-1 |
| 8 | Tarantino | E. Maldonado | P. Eurton | 20-1 |
The betting activity on this race will be fascinating. Journalism and Sovereignty have been the best 3-year-olds this year. Fierceness won the Alysheba to kick off his 4-year-old season before running second in the Met Mile and then fifth in the Whitney, so the trend line is pointed in the wrong direction, but he was terrific at 2 and 3 years old. Nysos has five wins in six career races, but has never made two turns.
Will anybody venture a wager on a long shot to bring down another single-digit price or will this just be a betting battle between the top three? A lot of layers to peel back for the Pacific Classic.
Here are some thoughts on each horse at the odds at time of publish:
1. Fierceness (3-1; Velazquez/Pletcher): There are a lot of interested parties rooting for Fierceness this week, as he has multiple owners and a legendary trainer who all decided that the ship to Del Mar was the right move. He’s yet to run a mile and a quarter as a 4-year-old, going 1 ⅛ last time out in the Whitney to a disappointing fifth-place finish. He ran very well at Del Mar last year and nearly beat Sierra Leone at 1 ¼ in the Classic, so that data point and the Travers win over Thorpedo Anna and Sierra Leone are what backers will be clinging to here.
Johnny Velazquez gets the ride looking for redemption from that last race. The horse has had some good recent workouts. Does Fierceness have the bounce back in him required to win this race?
2. Midnight Mammoth (12-1; Dollase/Ayuso): This 6-year-old out of Midnight Lute and Taker Home has hit the board 20 times in 37 starts, including eight victories. But, this is a pretty big step up in class and grade. In his lone G1 start, he finished fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year. Before that, he finished sixth in the San Pasqual, well behind Tarantino, a 20-1 shot here. That being said, he ran second in the Hollywood Gold Cup last time out, finishing just behind Skippylongstocking back on May 26. The layoff could be a good thing, but we haven’t seen an in-season layoff like this for Midnight Mammoth since he started racing.
3. Ultimate Gamble (20-1; Kimura/Glatt): Ultimate Gamble would apparently live up to the name with a 20-1 price tag here for Mark Glatt and rider Kazushi Kimura. The 5-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro only has nine career starts to his name and this will be the first stakes race for him. He’s trending in the right direction with a win last month at Del Mar, but his best probably won’t make him a factor here, especially making two turns for the first time.
4. Nysos (8/5; Prat/Baffert): Do we have some California bias in the morning line here? Journalism and Fierceness have national reputations. Nysos ran the Churchill Downs Stakes in May as his lone start outside of the Golden State. But, he has won all five races in Cali, including the Triple Bend, a seven-furlong sprint over Dr. Venkman, and the San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. Nysos is favored, despite one G1 appearance and only six career races, as his 3-year-old season ended in February at the Robert B. Lewis Stakes.
Suffice it to say that Baffert knows what he’s doing with his entries in this race. He’s won seven of them. His last three winners have been Arabian Knight (with Prat in the mount), Maximum Security, and Collected. Nysos was an overwhelming odds-on favorite in the SD Handicap and beat Mirahmadi by nearly three lengths as well as the Triple Bend in just a four-horse field. This is a bigger test.
5. Indispensable (15-1; Lopez/Sadler): As a long shot, Indispensable and trainer John Sadler would like more pace in the field. This is kind of an “anything you can do, I can do better” race for Indispensable, in that he’s also a stalker/closer and so are the favorites in the field, who are all better than he is. But, the 4-year-old out of Constitution and High Performer is running just the third graded stakes of his career. He ran the G1 American Pharoah back in 2023 at Santa Anita and the G3 Oklahoma Derby last year. He is coming off of a win and may fill out a tri or a super, but a win or even a place would be a stunner.
6. Journalism (9/5; Rispoli/McCarthy): We can all agree that Sovereignty is the best 3-year-old in the sport right now, but Journalism is second and he has a chance to add a lot more money and another tremendous result to his impressive resume. The list of horses to beat Journalism in his career is pretty small. Sovereignty (Belmont Stakes), Sovereignty (Kentucky Derby), Smooth Cruisein (first race). The loss to Smooth Cruisein has not aged well. The two to Sovereignty have.
Journalism broke his maiden at Del Mar last November before finishing life as a 2-year-old win a Los Alamos Futurity win. He’s run five straight G1 races with three wins and two seconds, including a win last time out in the Haskell. More importantly, after a busy Road to the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown, he’s only run once since basically the last three months. He shipped here shortly after that Haskell win and shipping isn’t a worry for him at all.
He’s the horse to beat. It’s as simple as that for the son of Curlin, who was a two-time winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The connections could have kept him on the East Coast to run in that race this weekend. They didn’t. They wanted him in California.
7. Lure Him In (20-1; Gonzalez/Wilensky): Edwin Gonzalez gets the ride on the oldest horse in the field, as 8-year-old Lure Him In makes his 54th career start. He’s racked up less than $700,000 in career earnings, in case you’re wondering what kinds of races he’s participated in. Amazingly, for all of those starts, he’s only gone 1 ¼ miles on dirt twice, when he finished third in the 2021 Tokyo Gold Cup, and when he went 1 ⅜ finishing last in the 2024 G2 Brooklyn.
8. Tarantino (20-1; Maldonado/Eurton): Peter Eurton’s lone entry in this race will be ridden by Edwin Maldonado, as 7-year-old Tarantino runs from the far outside post. In 31 career races, he’s won four times, racking up just over $550,000 in earnings. He hasn’t won a stakes race yet, but has filled out the trifecta nine times. That would be the ceiling here. Something akin to his fourth-place finish in the G2 Hollywood Gold Cup, where Midnight Mammoth finished second, should be considered a great race.
Pacific Classic Stakes Predictions
Journalism it is. I adopted the K.I.S.S. method of Keep It Simple Stupid in the Travers last week when Sovereignty won. Not that it paid a lot and not that it was a groundbreaking handicap, but good is good. Great is great. Elite is elite. Journalism is elite. I don’t think any other horse in the field would qualify as elite based on current form and accomplishments. Fierceness is up there, but he’s not Journalism. The 3-year-old may be running against older talent for the first time, but he’s won here before, shipping has never been an issue, and Umberto Rispoli has had all but one of his nine career starts.
Journalism over Fierceness and Nysos definitely feels too easy, but the rest of the field is just too far behind. Indispensable is the one that could crash that party for third.
Prediction: 6-1-4-5
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