Overview

• Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, rallied through a inside seam to win by about three lengths and paid $5.20 to win.
• The 1¼-mile Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic serves as a Breeders’ Cup qualifier, sending Fierceness directly to the Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
• Morning-line favorite Nysos was a race-day scratch with a bruised right outside quarter hoof, which Bob Baffert described as not serious, and he may target the Sept. 27 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita.
• Journalism, making his first start against older horses, closed for second and remains perfect in-the-exacta this year after a Haskell win that already granted him Breeders’ Cup Classic entry.
• Longshot Ultimate Gamble finished third at 71-1 to complete the trifecta.