DEL MAR : Best Pal in Position to Pull Off an Outside Job in Pacific Classic

In a seven-horse, 1 1/4-mile race, post positions shouldn’t be a factor, but jockey Corey Black is happy for his trainer, Gary Jones, that their favored Best Pal drew the outside for Saturday’s $1-million Pacific Classic.

“Breaking from No. 7 should make Gary more relaxed,” Black said. “He might have had a heart attack if we had drawn the 1 hole.”

Jones, 49, has already had enough heart attacks for one year. In February, during the Santa Anita meeting, he was hospitalized after suffering a mild attack, returning nine days later to saddle a stakes winner.

The No. 1 post has been hemlock at Del Mar this season. Horses breaking from the inside have won only once in 32 dirt races at a mile or farther. In sprints, the No. 1 post had produced only three winners in 99 races.

For the Classic, the rail position went to Bertrando, who will probably try to win the race in wire-to-wire fashion as his stablemate, Missionary Ridge, did at 24-1 a year ago.

Missionary Ridge, who has won just one of eight starts since, is also running Saturday, and he, Bertrando and Marquetry give trainer Bobby Frankel a three-horse entry. This will be the lineup in the starting gate:

Bertrando, to be ridden by Gary Stevens; Valley Crossing, with Chris Antley; Marquetry, Kent Desormeaux; Pistols And Roses, Herb Castillo Jr.; Missionary Ridge, Eddie Delahoussaye; Siberian Summer, Corey Nakatani, and Best Pal, Corey Black.

Best Pal, winner of the first running of the Classic, in 1991, and undefeated in four starts over the Del Mar track, is 4-5 on Jeff Tufts’ morning line, followed by the Frankel entry at 9-5, Siberian Summer at 4-1, Valley Crossing at 8-1 and Pistols And Roses at 15-1. The weight-for-age conditions mean that all horses carry 124 pounds.

A 2 1/2-length winner in the Hollywood Gold Cup in his last start, Best Pal worked impressively Tuesday, covering five furlongs in :58 4/5, and Jones has been unable to contain his optimism.

“I hope my mouth’s not open wide enough to get my foot in,” the trainer said Wednesday.

A victory by Best Pal would be worth $550,000, pushing his earnings to almost $5 million. Alysheba and John Henry head the list with respective totals of $6.6 million and $6.5 million, and going into the Classic, Best Pal is No. 6, trailing those two plus Sunday Silence, Easy Goer and Unbridled.

“I wouldn’t mind just finishing second, third and fourth (worth a total of $425,000) with my horses,” Frankel said. “But we’re running because they all get beat. We’ve all bet on 3-5 and 4-5 shots and then torn up our tickets.”

Best Pal, who missed last year’s Pacific Classic because of a splint-bone injury, hadn’t won a race in 14 months when he ran down Bertrando in the last quarter-mile of the Hollywood Gold Cup. Marquetry ran fourth and Missionary Ridge was fifth in that 1 1/4-mile race.

In the Gold Cup, Best Pal was on the inside much of the way, a place he usually doesn’t prefer.

“I wasn’t able to work him to the outside going down the backstretch, but the rail kept opening up, so I took advantage of it,” Black said of his ride. “He’s a true mile-and-a-quarter horse. He just keeps wearing the other horses down. Our post position Saturday should make things easier, because the outside is where we want to be.”

Best Pal, a 5-year-old gelding who was bred by his owners, Del Mar chairman John Mabee and his wife, Betty, has run 28 times, has won 13, been second seven times and third twice.

“Considering all he’s done, it’s incredible that he’s never won an Eclipse Award,” Black said.

As a 2-year-old in 1990, Best Pal won three stakes here, the most important the Del Mar Futurity. As a 3-year-old, Best Pal won only two of 12 starts and ran second behind Strike The Gold in the Kentucky Derby, and midway through the season the Mabees switched trainers, moving the horse from Ian Jory to Jones.

Under Jones, Best Pal beat older horses in winning the Pacific Classic, and last year he the Strub Stakes, the Santa Anita Handicap and the Oaklawn Handicap before his season ended prematurely, in May, with a fourth-place finish in the Pimlico Special.

The losing streak continued this year at Santa Anita, Oaklawn Park and in his second grass start, at Hollywood Park.

“I didn’t offer any excuses before he ran in the Gold Cup, because I think the Mabees were tired of hearing excuses,” Jones said. “He came up to the Gold Cup better than he had for any race this year, and now he seems to be coming up even better for this one.”

The Pacific Classic is the next-to-last stop for this year’s nine-race American Championship Racing Series. Unfortunately for racing, the three-year program, a victim of political infighting, ends with the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 18.

The horse with the most points for high finishes earns a $550,000 bonus. Devil His Due, who has won two of the races, worth 10 points apiece, is the leader with 31 points. Valley Crossing has 24 points and could take the lead with an upset Saturday. Pistols And Roses is third with 20 points. Best Pal has 10 points, his only series appearance having been in the Gold Cup.

Horse Racing Notes

Flagship Commander, a leading 2-year-old who would have been a solid favorite in Friday’s $75,000 Balboa Stakes, won’t run and will be out of training for two months because of sore shins, a common condition among young horses. . . . Six horses--Virtuous Regent, Flying Sensation, Marvin’s Faith, Creston, Top Success and Troyalty--will run in the Balboa. . . . Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, who said he sprained his ankle in an accident at home, didn’t ride Wednesday. . . . Pat Valenzuela began a five-day suspension Wednesday. He was set down by track stewards after his winning mount was dropped to second place on last Friday’s card.

Workouts by Pacific Classic horses Wednesday included half-mile times of :48 1/5 for Bertrando, :49 for Missionary Ridge and :49 4/5 for Marquetry. Siberian Summer worked five furlongs in 1:00 4/5. Bothered by a cracked hoof, Siberian Summer has run just twice since winning the Strub at Santa Anita on Feb. 7, finishing sixth in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in March and fourth as Marquetry won the Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park on July 17. . . . Bill Shoemaker turns 62 today.

Chris McCarron, who started the day with only five wins out of 54 mounts for the meet, rode two winners, including Cantua Creek in the Real Good Deal Stakes. Cantua Creek outfinished Town Caper to win by three-quarters of a length. On Aug. 5, in a $50,000 claiming race, the outcome was reversed, with Town Caper winning by 1 1/4 lengths. Morning-line favorite Silver Picea scratched from the Real Good Deal. . . . Talk Politics, who ran seventh in a stake at Saratoga on Monday, returned Wednesday to finish second in allowance company. Because her past-performance line from Monday could not be printed in time for the fans at the track Wednesday, Talk Politics was a betless entry, running only for purse money.

Pacific Classic Field

Field for the $1-million Pacific Classic Saturday at Del Mar:

PP HORSE JOCKEY TRAINER ODDS 1 *Bertrando Gary Stevens Robert Frankel 9-5 2 Valley Crossing Chris Antley Richard Small 8-1 3 *Marquetry Kent Desormeaux Robert Frankel 9-5 4 Pistols And Roses Herb Castillo Jr. George Gianos 15-1 5 *Missionary Ridge Eddie Delahoussaye Robert Frankel 9-5 6 Siberian Summer Corey Nakatani Ron McAnally 4-1 7 Best Pal Corey Black Gary Jones 4-5

* entry.

Weight: All horses carry 124 pounds. Distance: 1 1/4 miles. Purse breakdown: $550,000 for first; $200,000 for second; $150,000 for third; $75,000 for fourth, $25,000 for fifth. TV: ESPN. Approximate post: 2:45 p.m.