by Mike Curry
Go Between closed with a determined charge from the outside and gamely edged runner-up Well Armed by a neck in the final strides to win the $1-million Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) on Sunday at Del Mar.
Jockey Garrett Gomez reserved Go Between in eighth behind a moderate pace as Barcola controlled the tempo under pressure from Surf Cat and Well Armed through an opening quarter in :23.40 and a half-mile in :47.36.
"I was really pleased with my position,” Gomez said. “I was back there, but I was only seven or eight [lengths] off them. The only time I had to make a decision was at the four-and-a-half [furlong] pole. I had to decide whether to wait and make that late run or go around and go for it right then and there. I decided to go for it and it worked.”
Well Armed powered forward on the turn, seized command from Barcola, and surged into the stretch under Aaron Gryder with only open real estate separating him from a Pacific Classic victory. Go Between swept into contention from four wide on the turn and quickly accelerated ahead to challenge Well Armed in the stretch.
Well Armed dug in gamely on the inside but Go Between would not be denied as he inched ahead to prevail in 2:01.18 on the synthetic Polytrack surface.
“That was our plan going into it,” Kenny McCarthy, assistant to winning trainer Bill Mott, said of making one late run. “He has a running style that is good for this distance and [jockey] Garrett [Gomez] fits him so well. They're a great team.”
The winning time established a track record at Del Mar, which installed the Polytrack surface in 2007.
The Pacific Classic victory secured a starting spot for Go Between in the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series. Mott trains the five-year-old Point Given horse for owner-breeder Peter Vegso.
Well Armed ran a strong race in defeat as he finished 2¼ lengths clear of Mast Track, who edged Zappa by three-quarters of a length for third. Multiple Grade 1 winner Student Council, winner of the 2007 Pacific Classic, finished fifth.
Sent off as the 2.80-to-1 favorite, Go Between entered off a runner-up finish to Pacific Classic challenger Mast Track in the Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (G1) on June 28. He ended a three-race string of runner-up finishes since beginning the year with a two-length victory in the Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes on January 26 at Santa Anita Park.
Bred in Florida, Go Between is out of Group 3-placed stakes winner Mediation (Ire), by Caerleon. He improved to eight wins in 26 career starts and boosted his earnings to $2,783,880.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor