At Last, San Diego Has a Homegrown Winner

Let’s face it, the Padres are out of it. Forget ‘em.

The Chargers? Six and 10 since who knows when.

Things just are not going that well in the world of San Diego sports.

The community might not have teams , but it definitely has an athlete. This one is kind of a refreshing fellow who never pouts because he doesn’t make enough money. Heck, he doesn’t make any money at all. He works for oats.

If you were at Del Mar on Saturday for the inaugural running of the $1 million Pacific Classic, you know the guy.

Best Pal, San Diego’s horse, local boy made good.

This was the greatest field of horses in the history of Bing’s dreamy little race course. The best and the brightest from all over the country (and the world) converged in pursuit of the $550,000 first prize. Indeed, this may have been the best group of horses assembled anywhere in 1991.

Best Pal was the punk. He was the 3-year-old. The others were all four or older. They were the block bullies, guys like Farma Way, Itsallgreektome, Twilight Agenda, Festin and Unbridled. Best Pal was like a kid right off a sandlot going to bat against Nolan Ryan.

And darned if he was not born and raised at John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm outside Ramona. He could have hitchhiked to the starting line. He certainly did not need any transportation once he got there.

This was a big day for two of Mabee’s babies. Mabee happens to be chairman of the board of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and this was an event he had been pushing for quite some time.

“I’ve been looking forward to this race for four or five years,” he said, “and it’s finally come off. It’s been a real happening week. We’re 116 years behind the Kentucky Derby, but let’s make this the Kentucky Derby of the West.”

When Mabee says he was looking forward to the race for four or five years, he meant that literally. He certainly could not have been thinking about winning the race.

Not only had no 3-year-olds won any of the seven previous American Championship Racing Series events, none had even been entered. Three-year-olds aren’t supposed to be ready for the big guys. Best Pal was listed at 6-1, or fifth out of eight horses, on the morning line. The fans, recalling perhaps that he was the horse of the meeting at Del Mar as a 2-year-old, bet him down to 9-2.

“He has a lot of friends here in the area,” Mabee mused. “He was the choice of the public. You could see that. The handicappers didn’t pick him, but the people had a lot of confidence in him. And boy did he prove them right.”

Boy, did he.

That he broke the track record with a run of 1:59 4/5 was of little consequence, because the 1 1/4-mile distance is rarely run at Del Mar, but running down the big guys was.

It looked for a while as if Farma Way and Twilight Agenda were going to give D. Wayne Lukas a rather lucrative 1-2 sweep until Best Pal kicked up his youthful heels on the far turn. He still seemed a little too late with maybe a little too little at the top of the stretch, but he blew past and won by a length.

This was a great stretch run, a classic stretch run befitting the magnitude and name of the event. Best Pal did what Festin and Itsallgreektome were supposed to do.

Patrick Valenzuela, the jockey, did everything but the Icky Shuffle in the saddle after he crossed the finish line. Best Pal obviously had plenty of friends in the neighborhood, because his victory was cheered like a Fred McGriff grand slam. Hometown allegiance had come to horse racing, a rare feeling indeed.

“A fantastic feeling and a fantastic day,” said Mabee, who sipped champagne while his wife Betty hugged a huge bouquet of roses. “This is about as good as it gets.”

And maybe, just maybe, Mabee was a little surprised by the outcome.

“We didn’t want to get disgraced,” he said, “and we didn’t.”

No way Best Pal was going to disgrace, not with his track and his fans. Running against Best Pal at Del Mar is like wrestling with a shark in the ocean. You don’t mess with him in his element.

No, all those big guys who came from all those places to pick up this paycheck did not have a chance. They weren’t going to beat this kid in his own backyard.