Local Bettors Rush to Befriend Best Pal : Racing: Pacific Classic winner gets plenty of support at the windows.

They raced to the ticket window in similar fashion to Best Pal stomping past Twilight Agenda on the stretch.

Their tickets had the words “win” and “No. 6.”

Best Pal, the No. 6 horse in the inaugural running of the $1 million Pacific Classic, went off at just under 5-1, but came in ahead of all the favorites.

An upset? Not to all those stampeding to the ticket window.

Dan McCollum of Escondido got there well before it opened.

“With the Ramona Farm (Best Pal is trained at Golden Eagle Farm just east of Ramona), this is like his back yard,” McCollum said. “He likes it here and he’s coming off three wins in a row here last year. You gotta like a horse running on his home track. I think even if they kept going to the next turn, he would have kept opening his lead.”

As it was Best Pal, 2 1/2 lengths behind Twilight Agenda heading into the last stretch, won by a length.

Home-track advantage was not the only criterion used by bettors who favored Best Pal.

The most popular reason in an impromptu survey explains why males should never go to the track without girlfriends or wives.

Jessica Nash of Escondido and Connie Wilson of Phoenix picked the only 3-year-old in the eight-horse field because of his name.

“I liked its name,” Nash said. “I figured if he was my Best Pal he would win me money.”

Which was similar to Wilson’s thought process.

“I liked the name,” she said. “I felt good about him. It was something I really can’t explain. Women’s intuition, I guess.”

Mike Leger of Los Angeles found another reason to bet on Best Pal to win.

“He only had 116 pounds on him,” Leger said.

Being the only 3-year-old in the Classic, Best Pal had a distinct advantage over his older competitors, all of whom were saddled with 124 pounds.

And there’s always the option of doing your own research, which was the route Paul Green of Valley Center took to the ticket window.

“I’ve been trying a new method,” Green began. “I used to use the Racing Form, but I left it for a while while I’ve been trying this new method--I just take a look at the horses at the paddock. Here’s the top three horses I picked from how they looked at the paddock.”

Green had placed a 1 by Festin, which finished fourth, a 2 next to Best pal and a 3 on Twilight Agenda.

Then Green used his old method as a back-up.

“I picked Best Pal over the other two because of what the Racing Form said,” he said.

The Form mentioned Best Pal’s affinity for this track. It mentioned his weight advantage and, in his past-performance chart, the first item was his four-length victory July 7 in the 1 1/4-mile Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park.

But Green coupled that information with what he gathered himself at the paddock.

“His ears were fluttering, you could tell he was alert and paying attention to the crowd,” Green said of Best Pal’s pre-race appearance. “His head was up, he wasn’t sweating--he had a relaxed, confident look. When his handler stopped, he stopped, too. His handler didn’t have to jerk him. He looked really relaxed.”

The race, which didn’t even last two minutes, created some rare anticipation at the track.

Some people waited at the front gates for four hours to assure themselves a prime viewing spot for the Pacific Classic.

Debbie Rubalcaba, was among those who began forming a line as early as 7:30 a.m.

She came to the track along with her husband, Gilbert, and two brothers-in-law, Richard and Robert.

Gilbert, Richard and Robert attended a handicapping seminar while Debbie held their place in line. The whole clan finally joined Debbie at 10 a.m. and waited with her until the gates opened about 11:30.

“As soon as they let us in,” Richard said, “my two brothers took off and ran down here as fast as they could.”

“Down here” happened to be the corner of the grandstand blacktop up against the rail. That particular corner is easy to spot--it’s at the finish line.

“This is where we usually sit, anyway,” said Richard, 42. “I’ve been coming here ever since I was 16. I couldn’t even bet then. I just came for the excitement of it. And this is the first really big race they’ve ever had here, and I had to be here.”

As they opened the windows after the fourth race, an announcement came over the speaker. Best Pal’s 1:59 romp was the fastest 1 1/4 mile ever at Del Mar.

Before McCollum went to collect his winnings, he wanted to say one more thing.

“See,” he said. “That shows you that this is his home. When that horse dies, they’re going to bury him in the infield.”