A massive field of 12 confirmed, and some very compact odds once you get outside of the top three, make me convinced that this year’s edition of the Classic is much more wide open than a race boasting the likes of Einstein and Colonel John really should be. If either of these two were running against a field of 8 or less, I’d say get in there and back them all the way but this time around, I think we’re going to see the younger colt get one over on the big boys.

Misremembered’s only real loss this season came as a solid second place in the Affirmed Handicap and (I’ve embeded the video below) you’ll see he ran an absolute hell of a race. Grazen oozes quality and Misremembered truly made the most of a tough rail assignment there. If he wasn’t bottled up so early, he would have gotten into his preferred stalking position and been in a better position to push. I also think he was sent up too early. At about the one minute margin on the video, watch the move that Misremembered pulls off- this is the move that’s going to win him the Pacific Classic.

He then went on to absolutely demolish the Swaps Stakes- his first major stakes victory and it put him on three wins out of four. He’s going into this race lighter than the others at 118 and he is also the only three year-old. This is a horse in its acendancy and I have enough faith in the intelligence of Bob Baffert to send this colt into races that he’s going to win. You would not put your horse into a race against this type of competition without figuring you were in with a shout. Watch Misremembered absolutely pound the Swaps Stakes right here. Oh yeah, and he gets revenge on Grazen too.

This is the type of race we’re all about here at Gate2Wire. These are the type of horses we like to back.

I’ll be using Misremembered at the top end of several exotics that include Informed, Einstein and Colonel John. I think your superfecta is either that or Rail Trip in there somewhere towards the back.

Good news and bad news for racing fans as the latest word out of Hollywood Park indicates a boatload of exciting races, but it will be a shortened meet with 27 days of racing- 13 days shorter than last year’s edition.

The highlights include $750,000 CashCall Futurity which is expected to be a showcase for the 2010 Triple Crown contenders. The Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet carries a $300,000 purse, but there’s also news of purse reductions in the Hollywood Derby and Citation Handicap.

Much of the higher stakes races are being run towards the end of the meet, that’s not untraditional, and we’ll see the first real big race run on November 14th with the Trust Handicap- a race that’s just seen $75,000 added to the purse.

The Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup, as well as the Grade 2 Dahlia Handicap will likely see plenty of action.

Remember, you can get live streaming from Hollywood Park for free just by signing up with calracing.com.

Should the NYRA’s Belmont solution with the Beldame Stakes not pan out (the plan is to shift the purse from 600K up to a million) this seems like the only potential scenario that could see these two fillies do battle before year’s end. Rachel Alexandra is not planning on a run to the 2009 Breeders Cup thanks to the synthetic surface, so the Dirt at Sam Houston could be the saving grace for horse racing fans worldwide. McIngvale declared “Sam Houston has the best dirt course in the country… This is the best time for them to hook up.”

These types of match races are quite rare with only a few high-profile pairings having been through a similar process. The most famous is likely the Sea Biscuit/War Admiral showdown in 1938. Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian also slugged it out in 1978.

Zenyatta’s camp doesn’t sound entirely convinced about the concept at this early juncture, but the fact that experts estimate that her overall net worth would increase by over 50% should she win this race could lead owner Jerry Moss to give this some very strong consideration. This would be a special event, unlike any other in recent history, and the fact that we’ve got the two best fillies in a generation almost ready to go hoof-to-hoof is enough to make any racing fan excited. The winner would receive $1.2 million with the loser getting a tidy $800,000 for finishing second.