Sent off as the 2-1 favorite despite a below-par third behind the re-opposing Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. July 22, Zedan Racing Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) became the first 3-year-old since Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}) in 2014 to best his elders in the GI FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic at Del Mar, earning a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in the process.
“Those two horses (Arabian Knight and Geaux Rocket Ride) are really good horses,” winning Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said. “The wire couldn't come soon enough. I know it was crazy to come back here and run him at a mile and a quarter, but if you're going to get beat, I'd rather get beat in a Grade I. I loved the way he digs and fought and he's going to get better.”
Kicked straight into the lead from an outside gate by Flavien Prat–who was the passenger aboard Flightline in last year's history-making Pacific Classic, the $2.3-million topper from the 2022 OBS April Sale made the running once guided down onto the fence as Geaux Rocket Ride tracked from just behind while also hugging the inside.
Controlling the pace down the backstretch and around the second turn, Arabian Knight began to feel pressure from Slow Down Andy (Nyquist) as Geaux Rocket Ride was poised to pounce. It appeared as if the front-runner was in hot water, but he continued to find at the rail and was home narrowly best over Geaux Rocket Ride to give trainer Bob Baffert his record-setting seventh win in the race, breaking a tie with the late Bobby Frankel.
A 'Rising Star' on debut over Breeders' Cup weekend at Keeneland last fall, Arabian Knight splashed home an easy winner while making his two-turn debut in Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Jan. 28. He returned from the shelf with a third-place finish as the favorite in the Jersey Shore centerpiece last time.
“He's a nice horse and he showed it today,” Prat said. “He was running easily for me all the way around. He's lightly raced and I think this race will only make him better. It's an honor to win a big race like this.”
Pedigree Notes:
A 15th Grade I winner for the outstanding Uncle Mo, Arabian Knight is out of Borealis Night, herself a $450,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, who was fourth in a lone racetrack appearance for owner/trainer Ralph Nicks in late 2018 and was scooped up by Nathan McCauley's River Oak Farm for just $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February a few months later.
The mare had some pedigree underneath her as a half-sister to the three-times graded-placed Kinsley Kisses (Congrats) and GSP Spooky Woods (Ghostzapper) and that helped earn her a date in the breeding shed with Uncle Mo. Consigned to the 2019 Keeneland November Sale, Borealis Night was hammered down to Corser Thoroughbreds for $285,000 and the operation recovered a fair bit of that outlay when Scott and Evan Dilworth paid $250,000 for the colt at Keeneland September in 2021.
Prepared by Top Line Sales, agent, for last year's OBS April Sale, the bay breezed an eighth of a mile in :9 4/5 and went on to top the event on a bid of $2.3 million from Gary Young, agent for Zedan Racing Stable. The latter also purchased Princess Noor (Not This Time) off Top Line for a sales-topping $1.35 million at OBSAPR in 2020.
The first daughter of Astrology to be represented by a stakes winner, Borealis Night is also the dam of a yearling colt by Quality Road.
Saturday, Del Mar Thoroughbred
FANDUEL RACING PACIFIC CLASSIC S.-GI, $1,002,500, Del Mar, 9-2, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:03.19, ft.
1–ARABIAN KNIGHT, 118, c, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Borealis Night, by Astrology
2nd Dam: Winter Forest, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Shivering Six, by Saratoga Six
1ST GRADE I WIN. 'TDN Rising Star'. ($250,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $2,300,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Corser Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $600,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-1, $1,244,275. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Geaux Rocket Ride, 118, c, 3, Candy Ride (Arg)–Beyond Grace, by Uncle Mo. ($350,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL). O-Pin Oak Stud LLC; B-OXO Equine LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $200,000.
3–Slow Down Andy, 124, c, 4, Nyquist–Edwina E, by Square Eddie. O/B-Reddam Racing, LLC (CA); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $120,000.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 1. Odds: 2.10, 2.20, 11.30.
Also Ran: Senor Buscador, Skinner, Defunded, Piroli, Tripoli, Order and Law, Stilleto Boy. Scratched: Katonah.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Battling down the stretch.
Arabian Knight and Flavien Prat hold to victory in the Grade I $1,000,000 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic pic.twitter.com/19IxtU4RWV
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) September 3, 2023
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