Gentlemen Shows That a Favorite Can Win Pacific Classic

Neither the Pacific Classic’s reputation for chewing up favorites nor the resolve of his stablemate could stop Gentlemen at Del Mar Saturday.

Gentlemen, a 5-year-old Argentine-bred, might not have been at the top of his game, but still he mopped up, winning by 2 3/4 lengths over Siphon and putting one more $1-million souvenir in trainer Richard Mandella’s trophy case.

A year ago, Mandella played the squelch, ending Cigar’s 16-race streak with 39-1 shot Dare And Go as the Pacific Classic favorite bit the dust for the sixth consecutive year. This time, before 26,476, Mandella marched to the task with Gentlemen, the 1-5 favorite, and Siphon, the 2-1 second choice, and by the far turn the race was theirs and no one else’s.

“It was a pleasure to see the two of them hook up at the three-eighths pole,” Mandella said. “It was going to be a big fight and it was exciting for me to watch.”

Gentlemen took the lead at the head of the stretch and finished off the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00 2/5. Crafty Friend ran third, four lengths behind Siphon, and Lord Jain and River Keen, who may have bled from the lungs, completed the order of finish. Percutant was scratched when he unseated Corey Nakatani and ran off in the post parade. Gentlemen, paying $3 on a $2 win bet, earned $850,000, which included a $250,000 bonus for being the point leader in a series that started with the Santa Anita Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Gentlemen won the Gold Cup after running third, behind Siphon and Sandpit, in the Big ‘Cap, which has been his only defeat in his last nine starts.

“Both of these horses [Gentlemen and Siphon] rank at the top of the horses anybody could train,” said Mandella, who continues an extraordinary run that began with 1-2-3 finishes in both the Big ‘Cap and the Gold Cup. He has also won the last five $1-million races in California: Last year’s Gold Cup with Siphon and Pacific Classic with Dare And Go, and this year’s ‘Big Cap, Gold Cup and Pacific Classic.

“I like it so much that I’d like to do it again if I get the chance,” Mandella said. “I’m proud of the job I’ve done. The horses have kept their form, and I wouldn’t have been able to do all this without such outstanding horses.”

Gentlemen, who began his career in Argentina, won for the 12th time in 16 starts even though he labored over the track and refused to change lead feet from the left to the right. Horses normally switch leads so they can shift weight, but jockey Gary Stevens said that except for about 50 yards, Gentlemen ran the race on his left lead.

“I’ve never had a horse do what he did,” Stevens said. “After a while, I just gave up trying to get him to switch. He’s very temperamental, so you don’t want to get in a fight with him. He weighs 1,200 pounds and I weigh 115, so you know who’s going to win.”

Crafty Friend went to the lead at the start, with Siphon in closest pursuit and Gentlemen in third place. Down the backstretch, Gentlemen dropped back to fourth.

“I was happy with my position, but I didn’t like the way he was running,” Stevens said. “He wasn’t comfortable with the track. He wasn’t getting hold of the surface. But at the three-eighths pole, my horse took hold and said that it was time to go about his business. It was over with when we straightened out in the stretch. This is one amazing race horse. He wasn’t himself and he still beat one of the best handicap horses in the country decisively.”

Chris McCarron replaced the injured David Flores on Siphon.

“We gave ‘em a run,” McCarron said. “It was a horse race from the five-sixteenths to inside the eighth pole. But the other horse was just too much.

Gentlemen is owned by Giberto Montagna, Aldo Soprano and Juan Jose Varsi of Buenos Aires, plus R.D. Hubbard, the Hollywood Park chairman who bought a 40% interest in December. There may be another ownership change in October, with Walmac International, a Kentucky farm, having a buy-in option, but Hubbard said that he will retain his share.

Hubbard, the controlling partner, would like to return Gentlemen to grass--he’s five of seven on that surface--in the Arlington Million in two weeks, but Mandella expects to dissuade him. For an $800,000 supplementary fee, which Hubbard favors paying, Gentlemen can run in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park on Nov. 8. That would probably match him up with Touch Gold, the best 3-year-old in training.

“That’s going to be a great horse race if they hook up,” Stevens said. “But that’s all I’m going to say before I get myself in trouble.”

Horse Racing Notes

Gary Stevens also won Saturday’s other Del Mar stake, riding Track Gal to a 3/4-length victory in the Rancho Bernardo Handicap. Track Gal’s third consecutive victory in the Rancho Bernardo tied a Del Mar record held by Native Diver, who won the San Diego Handicap three times in a row in the 1960s, and Flawlessly, who won three consecutive Ramona handicaps in the 1990s. . . . Apprentice Ryan Barber has filed misdemeanor battery charges against Corey Nakatani, who shoved him off a horse after a race a week ago. After riding today, Nakatani will begin a stewards’ suspension that runs through the end of the meet.