Game On Dude's Pacific Classic time confirmed

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Del Mar, CA (Sports Network) - It took a few extra days, but the time of Game On Dude's romp in last Sunday's 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic has been confirmed.

Del Mar officials have announced that the time of 2:00.69 for the $1 million race is the true and official time. There had been some question as to whether that was the correct time for Game On Dude's 8 1/2-length victory over the track's Polytrack main surface.

"The bottom line is we haven't seen or heard anything that tells us a change is needed," said the track's director of racing and racing secretary Tom Robbins.

Del Mar's track timer Russell Hudak stated that his hand time result for the Pacific Classic, 1:59.96. matched up to the Teletimer figures.

TimeformUS head figure maker Craig Milkowski did a frame-by-frame comparison of the 2012 and 2013 Classics and came to the conclusion that Game On Dude's time should be reevaluated. Dullahan's time for last year's Classic was a track record 1:59.54.

"After thorough analysis TimeformUS head figure maker Craig Milkowski disagrees with the Pacific Classic official time," TimeformUS posted on its Twitter account.

In addition, a third time of 1:59.26 was released by Trackus, which uses wireless technology and tags inserted in saddlecloths to track and time horses.

"I thought it looked like a track record the way he did it, but it doesn't really matter," Game On Dude's trainer Baffert said. "He ran so much better than last year (when second), it was a great day and he came out of it fine."

According to Hudak, nothing appeared unusual at the start or during the running of the 23rd Pacific Classic.