Saturday’s $1 million, Grade 1 TVG Pacific Classic is the marquee race of the summer meet at oceanside Del Mar Thoroughbred Club north of San Diego. The Pacific Classic annually draws together some of the best long-distance dirt horses in training to compete for its lucrative purse and a berth in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The Pacific Classic is a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, which means that the winner of the Pacific Classic will receive an expenses-paid berth in the starting gate of the $6 million Classic.

This year’s Pacific Classic will take on an additional degree of importance since the 2021 Longines Classic will be held on Nov. 6 at Del Mar on the same dirt track horses will be racing on Saturday.

Read on for some interesting facts about the TVG Pacific Classic.

1. The Pacific Classic is held at 1 ¼ miles, the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Kentucky Derby. Candy Ride set the stakes record in the Pacific Classic – and Del Mar’s dirt record for 1 ¼ miles – in the 2003 Pacific Classic with a sizzling final time of 1:59.11. That time would rank as the second-fastest ever through 37 editions of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, behind only Ghostzapper’s 1:59.02 in 2004 at Lone Star Park.

Accelerate winning Pacific Classic in 2018. (Eclipse Sportswire)

2. Only one horse has won the Pacific Classic and Breeders’ Cup Classic in the same calendar year. Accelerate accomplished the double in 2018 and received the Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male for a season where he won five of six starts. He holds the record margin of victory in the Pacific Classic, scoring by 12 ½ lengths. Pleasantly Perfect won both races, but in different years – the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2003 and the Pacific Classic in 2004. He finished third behind Ghostzapper in the ’04 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

3. Only one filly or mare has won the Pacific Classic, and that winner is a shoo-in for the Racing Hall of Fame. Beholder, who had already won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2012 and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in 2013, romped in the 2015 Pacific Classic by 8 ¼ lengths in a final time of 1:59.77, the fourth-fastest time on dirt in the race’s history. A year later, she finished second to another future Hall of Famer, California Chrome, in the Pacific Classic and then closed out her career with another win in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, giving her three total wins at the World Championships.

4. Three horses have won the Pacific Classic in back-to-back years. Tinner’s Way won in 1993 and 1994, Skimming did it in 2000 and 2001, and Richard’s Kid coupled up 2009 and 2010. Richard’s Kid won the race when it was held on an artificial Polytrack surface at Del Mar, which lasted from 2007 to 2014.

5. Two trainers are tied with the most wins in the Pacific Classic at six apiece. The late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel dominated the race during its early years, winning two times each with Tinner’s Way and Skimming and also with Missionary Ride in 1992 and Bertrando in 1993. Bob Baffert, also in the Hall of Fame, won twice with Richard’s Kid and also with General Challenge (1999), Game On Dude (2013), Collected (2017), and Maximum Security (2020). Baffert has Magic On Tap slated to start in Saturday’s renewal.

6. Two jockeys are also tied with the most wins in the Pacific Classic at four. The late Garrett Gomez won aboard Skimming twice, on Borrego in 2005 and on Go Between in 2008. “Big Money” Mike Smith won riding Richard’s Kid twice and on Came Home in 2002 and Shared Belief in 2014.

7. Four geldings (castrated males) have won the Pacific Classic, and they are four of the most accomplished winners in the race’s history: Best Pal (1991), Lava Man (2006), Game On Dude (2013), and Shared Belief (2014). Collectively, this quartet bankrolled more than $20.3 million. Best Pal (more than $5.6 million in earnings) and Lava Man (more than $5.2 million) are in the Racing Hall of Fame.

Dare and Go defeats Cigar in 1996 Pacific Classic. (Anne Eberhardt/Blood-Horse)

8. Dare And Go posted the biggest upset in Pacific Classic history in 1996. Sent off at odds of 39.60-1, he upset the reigning Horse of the Year, Cigar, in the race, ending Cigar’s 16-race winning streak. Dare And Go was the first of four (so far) Pacific Classic winners trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella.

9. The largest field size and the smallest field size contesting the Pacific Classic happened in back-to-back years. Came Home defeated 13 opponents in 2002, and only three horses opposed Candy Ride in 2003. Candy Ride was not the favorite in that race, however. He set the swift stakes and track record as the 2.20-1 second betting choice, defeating 3-5 favorite and runner-up Medaglia d’Oro by 3 ¼ lengths.

10. Five of the top six betting days for the Pacific Classic card at Del Mar have happened in the last five years. Gamblers wagered a record $25,870,431 on Aug. 18, 2018, when Accelerate’s Pacific Classic win headlined the day’s racing. Last year, bettors put up $24,585,007 for the 11-race card, which ranks fifth all-time despite the absence of live spectators “where the Surf meets the Turf” due to the coronavirus pandemic.