Finger no match for Pacific Classic competition

The 3-year-old colt Finger, Japan’s hopeful in the 36th edition of the Pacific Classic, was always a wildcard, but a last-place finish at Del Mar proved a double disappointment in international action for Japanese racers over the Aug. 22-23 weekend.

It was also a second blow this summer for trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka, whose G1 champion Sixpence disappointed earlier in the month in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville. Tanaka, who opened his barn only 8 years ago, already has four G1 wins to his name. Three were claimed by Lemon Pop and, most recently, by Sixpence in this year’s Yasuda Kinen.

Finger went to the Pacific Classic with a career four firsts and four seconds. He had ruled the dirt at Tokyo’s Oi Racecourse with back-to-back top class race wins of the Tokyo Derby and Haneda Hai. But, to take on the $1 million Pacific Classic held at California’s Del Mar Racetrack Saturday evening stateside (Sunday morning, Aug. 23 Japan time) on his first trip overseas was a huge request.

The field of the 2,000-meter dirt Grade 1 was highly competitive and carried a “Win and You’re In” ticket to the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic scheduled for Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland. There was talent galore, three runners proven at the top and five more graded-stakes winners. Still, with no one no longer questioning the quality of Japan’s racehorses, Finger was third favorite at the track.

The bay colt had won his last two outings wire to wire, but this time he was slightly slow away and Keita Tosaki, who had ridden all the colt’s eight previous starts, settled him in the middle of the pack. Although his team had been addressing the colt’s issue of failing to close from off the pace, Finger was no match for the competition. The track was fast, the pace heated, and Finger was racing on a dirt surface very different from what he had experienced before. He faded to finish last amid the field of 11.

Race favorite Knightsbridge, a Godolphin-owned, 5-year-old by Nyquist trained by Hall of Famer William Mott, smashed the competition under Junior Alvarado to win by a margin of 6 and one quarter lengths and claim his first top-level prize. G3 winner Original Sin and Full Serrano (2024 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner), followed over the line in second and third place.

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Del Mar Racecourse
Result: Equibase , Racing Post