THOROUGHBRED RACING : Cal Cup Might Be Next Renewal of Bertrando-Best Pal Rivalry

Bertrando, winner of Saturday’s $1-million Pacific Classic, and Best Pal, the 2-5 shot who finished third, might renew their rivalry in the $250,000 California Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 16.

The timing of the Cal Cup is right for both horses, three weeks before the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will also be run at Santa Anita. The Cal Cup is 1 1/8 miles, an eighth of a mile shorter than the Breeders’ Cup race.

Trainer Gary Jones said that another possibility for Best Pal is another 1 1/8-mile race, the $200,000 Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 17.

“We’ll look at the weights and decide,” Jones said.

When Best Pal ran in the Cal Cup Classic in 1991, he was a 2-5 favorite, as he was here Saturday, and lost by a head to longshot Charmonnier. The Cal Cup, patterned after the Breeders’ Cup, is a one-day group of seven races restricted to horses bred in California.

To run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, owners John and Betty Mabee would have to supplement Best Pal at a cost of $360,000. First place is worth $1.56 million. In Best Pal’s only Breeders’ Cup appearance, the Mabees paid $120,000 to supplement him into the $1-million Juvenile at Belmont Park in 1990 and the gelding finished sixth as the second betting choice, earning $10,000.

A race over the track for a Breeders’ Cup candidate might be more significant for out-of-town horses than Bertrando and Best Pal, who have trained at Santa Anita and run there many times. When the Breeders’ Cup was held at Santa Anita in 1986, winners of two of the seven races, Capote and Skywalker, were California-based horses.

Because no one pressed Bertrando for the lead in the Pacific Classic, jockey Corey Black had Best Pal in a closer position than usual early in the race.

“We might have done better if he made his natural run, instead of forcing the pace,” Jones said Sunday. “He’s not a (front-runner), but I’m not blaming Corey. He rode the race the way he had to.”

Jones said that he didn’t give Black any specific instructions before the race.

Bobby Frankel, who trains Bertrando, was less definite than Jones about his plans for his horse, but acknowledged Saturday that the Cal Cup was an option.

Frankel ran 1-2-4 in the Pacific Classic with Bertrando, Missionary Ridge and Marquetry as his horses won $825,000 of the $1-million purse. Frankel is leading the nation in purses and Saturday put him over the $5-million mark.

The only race that seems definite for Frankel’s three Pacific Classic horses is the $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 18 for Missionary Ridge, who finished three lengths behind his stablemate Saturday.

Bertrando and Marquetry both run with Lasix because they have experienced pulmonary bleeding, and that medication is banned for racing in New York. Missionary Ridge, who doesn’t run with Lasix, also has a shot at the $550,000 bonus that goes to the horse finishing with the most points in the nine-race American Championship Racing Series, which will end with the Woodward. Devil His Due, expected to run in the Woodward, leads the series with 31 points, followed by Valley Crossing with 25 and Missionary Ridge with 24.

Frankel and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye successfully changed the running style of Missionary Ridge on Saturday and he rallied from last.

“We knew if the track favored (front-runners) that Bertrando would be tough,” Frankel said. “And if the track had been playing slow, I think Missionary Ridge might have picked them all up.”