DEL MAR : Challenger to Best Pal Due to Arrive Monday

Valley Crossing, winner of the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on July 24, will be shipped from Pimlico to Del Mar Monday to run in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 21.

The Maryland-based horse, trained by Dick Small, went over $1 million in earnings by winning the Iselin, an American Championship Racing Series event, in which he defeated Devil His Due.

Valley Crossing will be challenging Best Pal, trainer Gary Jones’ horse from Golden Eagle Farm in nearby Ramona.

“Best Pal is a local hero (in California),” Small said, “but we’ve played away games before. We wouldn’t go unless we thought we had a good chance. I’m always pretty confident when I take him to these big races. He’s not going to win them all, but Best Pal and Devil His Due don’t win them all either.”

Pistols And Roses, a disappointing 32 lengths back in the Iselin, will be shipped to Del Mar Tuesday for the Pacific Classic.

“I have no explanation why he ran like that,” said George Gianos, the Florida-based trainer who will be running a horse in California for the first time. “I breezed him an easy half-mile last Saturday at Calder, and he’s doing excellently.”