The Lead:
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We'll spread our wings to the west coast in this Race of the Week space to give players more handicapping options. The Grade 2 $250,000 Pat O'Brien is Del Mar's premier race in the Breeders' Cup Sprint division and goes as Race 9 on the program.

​Field Depth:
The field of 10 boasts Grade 1 winners AMERICAN THEOREM, SPEAKER'S CORNER and GET HER NUMBER. Grade 2 winners add depth via RESTRAINEDVENGEANCE and PRINCIPE CARLO. Meanwhile, DEFUNDED is Grade 1-placed and 9 of these 10 have been graded-placed. SPEAKER'S CORNER has kept the strongest company lines of the bunch and ventures from New York.

Pace:
Stablemates LAUREL RIVER and DEFUNDED are fast early, as is PRINCIPE CARLO and SPEAKER'S CORNER. There won't be many breathers in this 7-furlong test. If a closer fires his best shot, he'll be in with a chance.

Our Eyes:
AMERICAN THEOREM proved the west's best sprinter in the Bing Crosby over 6 furlongs to open the Del Mar meet. He may be better at this 7-furlong trip, owing to his previous route stamina. He's a finisher and a closer, but doesn't come from the clouds, and that makes him dangerous in most any pace scenario.

SPEAKER'S CORNER is here because Jackie's Warrior has domain over the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga the same-day. You can't blame the road trip after facing national powerhouses Flightline and Life is Good in his last 2 starts. That he hooked up with that pair in the Met Mile and Nerud answers the age-old sprint question: Does he have California speed? The answer is yes. Of the front-runners in this O'Brien, he's most trusted.

CZ ROCKET won this race in 2020 and was runner-up as the favorite in 2021. We know he fits here on his best, and the 8-year-old got a nice allowance prep over the track in July to set the table. He's incredibly consistent and gets a good pace to chase into. This will be his third straight start from the rail draw.

Among the others are Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile third-place finisher RESTRAINEDVENGEANCE as well as the runners-up in the Bing Crosby (GET HER NUMBER) and Triple Bend (PRINCIPE CARLO). GET HER NUMBER is the most attractive of that group off recent form and likely pace set-up. Meanwhile, LAUREL RIVER makes the jump from back-to-back allowance wins at Del Mar a year apart to the stakes ranks for Bob Baffert and leading jockey Juan Hernandez.

Most Certain Exotics Contender:
SPREAKER'S CORNER is 6 for his last 7 in the exacta and has missed only 1 trifecta in 11 starts.

Best Longshot Exotics Contender:
GET HER NUMBER was 7-1 in the Bing Crosby and might go even a bit higher than that. He'll be running late.

Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
$80 exacta SPEAKER'S CORNER over AMERICAN THEOREM. $20 exacta AMERICAN THEOREM over SPEAKER'S CORNER.