Skimming Steps to the Front Again

Another Saturday, another victory in a seven-figure race. But trainer Bobby Frankel isn’t yawning.

A week after Frankel saddled Chester House for a win in the $2-million Arlington Million in suburban Chicago, he returned to the scene of his best times, winning the $1-million Pacific Classic with Skimming, a sawed-off 4-year-old colt who has become Del Mar’s darling after floundering in France and at a third-rate track in England.

“We had written him off,” said Prince Ahmad of Juddmonte Farms, the Saudi Arabian-based outfit that also races Chester House. In France, the Kentucky-bred Skimming lost all four starts, and after breaking his maiden in England last January he ran fourth on an all-weather surface at the Wolverhampton course in February.

Skimming arrived at Frankel’s barn at Hollywood Park shortly afterward.

“He was a nice horse, but I never dreamed I’d be here [in the Pacific Classic winner’s circle] with him,” said Frankel, who has won half of the 10 runnings of Del Mar’s richest race. His other Pacific Classic victories came in succession, with Missionary Ridge in 1992, Bertrando in 1993 and Tinners Way in 1994 and 1995.

“The first one is always the best, but this one ranks right up there,” Frankel said. “You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right horse.”

General Challenge, winner of last year’s Pacific Classic and Saturday’s 9-10 favorite, finished fourth under Laffit Pincay Jr., who was announced as a substitute rider 18 minutes before post time after Corey Nakatani suffered a hairline fracture of the left clavicle in a spill that cost the life of the filly Candace In Paris two races before the Classic.

Bob Baffert, General Challenge’s trainer, did not blame Pincay for the colt’s poor showing. In fact, Baffert sympathized with Pincay, whose two wins on the card stretched his career-record total to 8,973.

“He’s a very difficult horse to ride,” Baffert said. “You’ve got to know him. To put Laffit in this situation was very tough.”

Just as he had done in his prep for the Pacific Classic, the San Diego Handicap three weeks ago, Skimming blasted to the front with Garrett Gomez and was never headed. He won the prep by eight lengths, carrying 112 pounds, and on Saturday, with the burden increased to 124, he was two lengths better than Tiznow, a 3-year-old, at the wire. Ecton Park, the shipper from Saratoga, was third, beaten by 3 1/4 lengths, and General Challenge was fourth in the seven-horse field, 3 3/4 lengths behind Skimming.

“At the half-mile pole, I thought I was in a great position,” Pincay said. “But there was no fire in him then. I asked, but it wasn’t there.”

This was General Challenge’s third straight loss since winning the Santa Anita Handicap in March.

“After the race, I was worried that he might be having a heat stroke,” Baffert said. “He was stuck inside and was taking dirt in his face all the way around. He came up empty. He didn’t look like the horse we know.”

Running 1 1/4 miles in 2:01 1/5, Skimming paid $11.40 to win before 24,176, the smallest crowd in Pacific Classic history. The victory, Skimming’s fourth in six starts for Frankel, was worth $600,000. Skimming is a son of Nureyev and Skimble, a stakes-winning grass filly that was trained by Frankel.

Frankel was concerned about the Pacific Classic distance for Skimming but liked his colt’s chances over an early-speed favoring Del Mar surface.

“He might not get a mile and a quarter at Churchill Downs,” Frankel said, “but I thought that if there was one track where he might go that far, it was here. It’s got something to do with the configuration. He handles the turns well, and there’s a short stretch.”

Forty One Carats, at 31-1, tried to run with Skimming early, and after he gave up the chase, Tiznow took over. Skimming was blazing away, running fractions of 22 3/5, 45 2/5 and 1:09 4/5 for the first six furlongs.

Watching the replay on the large infield TV screen in front of the stands, Frankel said: “He ran them off their feet. I think he won the race because he was going so fast early. The other horses were chasing him and they had nothing left.”

Skimming had a bleeding problem in Europe, where the medication Lasix is banned. He has been running with the diuretic since coming to the U.S.

Gomez, winning his first $1-million race, picked up the mount on Skimming for the San Diego Handicap. Frankel would have given the mount to Alex Solis, but he was at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, winning the Haskell Handicap with Dixie Union.

“There was more pressure early on than I expected,” Gomez said. “I just let him alone and let him run his race. They were a lot closer to us this time. At the three-eighths pole, they were creeping up on him. The last time, he just scooted away from there. I was more nervous this time. At the five-sixteenths pole, I pushed the button. There was the matter of distance, but he answered that one.”

Tiznow, running against older horses for the first time, was making only his sixth start, coming back here after a second-place finish to Captain Steve in the Swaps at Hollywood Park.

“All the way around, I thought I could get [Skimming],” said Chris McCarron, who rode Tiznow. “My horse was trying and trying, and I thought I’d get there. Then the wire came up.”

Kent Desormeaux, who rode Ecton Park, said he’ll take a riding call from Frankel in next year’s Pacific Classic, no matter who the horse is.

“Let’s just start calling this race the Pacific Frankel Classic,” Desormeaux said.

Nakatani’s injury resulted from Candace In Paris, a Theatrical filly owned by Madeleine Paulson, clipping heels with Elderberry, ridden by Luis Jauregui, near the quarter pole of the $75,000 Finlandia Cup Handicap. Elderberry, who finished second, was disqualified and placed last by the three stewards, who said that Nakatani was forced to steady his filly before she went down.

Bob Meldahl, Nakatani’s agent, said he would be sidelined three to five weeks.

“I know General Challenge is a difficult horse to mess with, and Corey knows him pretty well,” Gomez said. “Laffit was kind of going in blind with him. But I wasn’t concerned about what instructions they gave Laffit, because I knew what our game plan was.”