FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 17th, 2017

ARROGATE, DEFENDING BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC WINNER, HEADLINES LIVE TELECAST OF TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC FROM DEL MAR, CALIF., THIS SATURDAY AT 8 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

$1 Million Race Part of “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Win And You’re In – Presented By Lane’s End Farm And America’s Best Racing”   

NEW YORK (August 17, 2017) – Led by defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Longines World No. 1 ranked race horse, Arrogate, a field of eight horses is set for the 1 ¼ mile, $1 million Pacific Classic this Saturday, August 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET from Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., on the live NBCSN telecast of the “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In – Presented by Lane’s End Farm and America’s Best Racing.

Saturday’s show will also include live coverage of the 1 3/8–mile, $250,000 Del Mar Handicap, with the winner earning an automatic berth in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.

The Pacific Classic telecast is the sixth of 11 telecasts in the “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In, presented by Lane’s End Farm and America’s Best Racing,” on NBC and NBCSN, featuring 17 “Win And You’re In” races plus other major stakes on the road to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, November 3-4, at Del Mar, which will also be televised by NBC Sports Group. Saturday’s show also will be streamed live on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Winners of these Challenge races, which combined offer more than $10 million in purses, automatically qualify for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup.

Saturday’s program will be hosted by Laffit Pincay III, who will be joined by analyst Randy Moss and reporters Nick Luck and Jay Privman. Daily Racing Form’s Matt Bernier will serve as the Handicapper.

The Pacific Classic, for 3-year-olds and up, will award the fifth automatic berth into this year’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series.

Arrogate, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, will try to rebound from his shocking fourth-place finish at odds of 1-20 in the 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 22 to Hronis Racing’s 4-year-old Accelerate. Until the San Diego, Arrogate had been the dominant horse in Thoroughbred racing.

Since breaking the 150-year-old track record in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga nearly a year ago, Arrogate, a gray/roan son of Unbridled’s Song, reeled off successive wins in the world’s three richest dirt races: the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita; the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park and the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan to become the richest North American racehorse of all time with total earnings of more than $17 million.

Baffert has also entered Speedway Stable’s Collected, winner of the 1 1/16-mile Precisionist Stakes at Santa Anita on June 24.

Accelerate, trained by John Sadler and ridden by Victor Espinoza, has been a consistent runner throughout his career, with four wins, and has finished in the top three in all four of his starts this year. A chestnut son of Lookin at Lucky, Accelerate finished third in last year’s Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Hard Aces; winner of the Tokyo City Handicap at Santa Anita, R3 Racing, Calara Farms and ERJ Racing’s Curlin Road, who won the Cougar II at Del Mar on July 26; Reddam Racing’s Donworth, second to Accelerate in the San Diego Handicap; Tachycardia Stables and Twilight Racing’s Royal Albert Hall and Big Chief Racing’s Sorry Erik complete the field.

About Breeders’ Cup

The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championships. The Breeders’ Cup also administers the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The 2017 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 13 Grade I races with purses and awards totaling more than $28 million, will be held November 3-4 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., and will be televised live by the NBC Sports Group. The Breeders’ Cup culminates with the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which was rated No. 1 in the world in the final 2016 Longines World’s Best Horse Race rankings. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders’ Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About NBC Sports Group

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of a unique array of sports assets, including NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN (NBC Sports Network), Golf Channel, nine NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital. NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, PGA of America, Royal & Ancient, Churchill Downs, NYRA, Breeders’ Cup, Premier League, Tour de France, French Open, Formula One, IndyCar and many more.

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