California Chrome Certain Pacific Classic Favorite Following Beholder Loss

by SCOTT SHAPIRO

After a pair of heart stopping battles to the wire each of the last two weeks at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, the outlook for the meet’s premier event—the $1-million Grade 1 Pacific Classic on August 20—is a bit murky.

The Grade 2 San Diego Handicap saw a thrilling stretch drive between Horse of the Year California Chrome and multiple Grade 1 winner Dortmund with the 2014 Kentucky Derby winner outlasting the 2015 Kentucky Derby third-place finisher to the wire in a gutsy half-length victory.

Not to be outdone, three-time champion Beholder and 2015 three-year-old champion filly Stellar Wind hooked up on the far turn with the four-year-old daughter of Curlin getting the best of the ten-time Grade 1 winner in the final strides of the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.