Masochistic cruises to victory

Masochistic didn’t go easy on his rivals in Del Mar’s Grade II, $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 27 (pictured above).

The favorite took the lead within a few strides out of the gate and cruised to a 3 3/4-length victory over Vyjack, while Indexical – the only other horse in the field – was an additional 7 1/2 lengths behind.

Under jockey Tyler Baze, Masochistic ran the 7 furlongs on the dirt in 1:20.31, narrowly missing the track record of 1:20 set by Solar Launch in 1990.

“He disappointed at this track last year at low odds (second, Bing Crosby), but this year, he’s a different horse,” said his trainer, Ron Ellis. “Last year, he just wanted to run as fast and as far as he could. This year, he’s really conserving his energy, and I think he can go even farther. Now we’ve got nine weeks to the Breeders’ Cup, and we’ll train him up for the Sprint. ”

The 6-year-old Masochistic is owned by Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable.

Saturday’s supporting feature race, the $150,000 Generous Portion Stakes, was won by Miss Sunset.

Other winners during the week included Belvoir Bay (Grade III, $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes), Accelerate ($100,000 Shared Belief Stakes), and Soi Phet and Magic Mark (division winners of the $100,000 Harry F. Brubaker Stakes).

Next weekend is the final one of Del Mar’s summer meet, with closing day on Labor Day, Sept. 5.