del mar

Shelter Island is about a mile from end to end, and the space between is mostly marinas, restaurants, hotels and the long, grassy Shelter Island Shoreline Park — a great place for a walk, run or a picnic with grilling. Also, there’s a handy playground for little kids next to the little Shelter Island Pier.

Perhaps best of all, on that little fishing pier often half hidden by anglers and eager diners, stands Fathom Bistro, Bait and Tackle. Fathom has a far more ambitious menu that your average bait merchant, including lots of craft bees and sausages, kimchi and beignets made in house. I loved my Baja Dog there (onions and pico de gallo are involved), but bolder eaters may opt for the Explodo Dog, which brings a Vienna Beef hot dog, bacon, pepper jack cheese, kimchi and mustard together at last.

Given all these assets, I’m ready to forgive Shelter Island for not really being an island. This mini-peninsula is connected to the mainland by Shelter Island Drive. It was created in the 1950s, when the San Diego Port District dredged the bay, built up a peninsula and zoned it for tourist businesses with a tiki/Polynesian theme.

From the Bali Hai restaurant (since 1954) at the north end of the mile-long isthmus to the Kona Kai resort at the other end, that theme survives. The hotels include Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn, whose annual summer Concerts by the Bay series runs from April into November and brings acts like Tower of Power, Pat Metheny, Judy Collins, Robert Plant and Rodrigo y Gabriela to an amphitheater at water’s edge. Savvy kayakers paddle up nearby and listen for free.

Also found on Shelter Island: several yacht brokers and boat repair operations, a Tunaman’s Memorial Sculpture, a Friendship Bell from Yokohama, a longstanding osprey nest atop a light pole by the friendship bell, a boat ramp and the kid-friendly Grace Beach (which gets no waves).

By the way, back when San Diego’s Port District was creating almost-islands (and the California Coastal Commission didn’t exist), it also made nearby Harbor Island, which has a few more marinas and hotels, along with a closely grouped trio of restaurants with perhaps the best downtown skyline views in the city: Coasterra (modern Mexican), Island Prime (steakhouse) and C Level (seafood).

If you have a first-time California visitor on your hands, take them to one of those. Suddenly, our real estate prices will make a little more sense.

DEL MAR — Bill Mott was nearly 2,500 miles from Del Mar on Saturday night, but if you listened closely as the field raced down the backstretch in the $1 million Pacific Classic, you probably could hear the Hall of Fame trainer scream.

Thirty years ago, Mott brought Cigar to this same track for this same race, hoping his superstar horse would set the modern-day North American record for consecutive victories. But Cigar, at odds of 1-10, got caught up in a speed duel and wound up losing to a 39-1 long shot named Dare and Go.

Now it seemed like it might be happening again.

Knightsbridge went off at odds of 11-10 instead of Cigar’s 1-10 and he wasn’t racing for history, but the race took on an eerie similarity as the favorite dueled head-and-head with Full Serrano for much of the 1¼ miles. And they were going fast — not quite as fast as Cigar but close enough (1 minute, 10.02 seconds to 1:09.29) for some anguish.

“I thought maybe they were going a little too fast down the backside,” Mott told Del Mar publicity by phone from Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

He had no way of knowing, but so did his jockey.

“I was a little worried we were going a little too fast,” Junior Alvarado said.

As it turned out, neither man had reason to worry. Knightsbridge had a short lead as the two horses passed the mile marker, and when they straightened out in the stretch, the race was over. He continued on, Full Serrano weakened, and the others were too far back.

The final time was 2:02.28, with Original Sin 6¼ lengths behind in second and Full Serrano third. Om N Joy, the first filly to try the Pacific Classic in a decade, finished fourth, followed by Hit Show, Malarchuk, Forged Steel, British Isles, Navajo Warrior, Subsanador and Finger, a Japanese 3-year-old.

With the victory, worth $4.20 to his backers and $600,000 to owners Godolphin, Knightsbridge earned an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. But whether he runs in that race or the Dirt Mile will be a decision for Mott and Godolphin, who also have Sovereignty, last year’s horse of the year and the top-ranked horse in the Breeders’ Cup’s initial poll for Classic contenders.

“They’re two different horses,” said Alvarado, who rides both. “It’s nearly impossible to [compare]. This horse carries a lot of speed. The other horse has a hell of a turn of foot coming for home … from the half-mile all the way to the wire, very strong at a mile and a quarter. I don’t recall having such a strong finisher like Sovereignty. So it’s going to be interesting. We got time just to decide what we’re going to do next.”

The idea that Knightsbridge would even be under consideration for the 1¼-mile Classic would have been unthinkable until last month; his first 10 career races were all around one turn at either seven furlongs or a mile. But Mott decided to try him at 1⅛ miles in the Monmouth Cup on July 18 at Monmouth Park, and the 5-year-old son of Nyquist won by 10¼ lengths in a time that earned him the fastest Beyer Speed Figure of the year (122).

With the West Coast handicap division weakened, Mott figured it was a good time to try the Pacific Classic again. He had won the race in 2008 with Go Between and enjoyed other successes here, including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Scylla, but he also had to scratch Sovereignty from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic when the horse got sick.

Now he has another positive memory — his second win in Del Mar’s signature race, which has been won by only two other trainers not based in California, Todd Pletcher (Fierceness last year) and Dale Romans (Dullahan in 2012).

“It was quite impressive,” Mott said. “They went quick, but gosh he had something to finish with.”

The victory completed a Grade 1 sweep Saturday for Alvarado, who one race earlier captured the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks aboard Tam Tam ($7.40) for trainer Philip Bauer.

How did he plan to celebrate?

“We’re going to celebrate it going back to New York tonight on the red-eye flight,” he said, smiling.

In the other Breeders’ Cup Challenge race here Saturday, the 5-year-old gelding Sorrento Sky ($16), ridden by Umberto Rispoli for trainer Phil D’Amato, earned a spot in the Turf Sprint by capturing the $200,000 Green Flash Handicap by a length over No Nay Hudson. D’Amato and Rispoli also won the $300,000 Del Mar Mile with King of Gosford ($12.40).

The crowd of 15,187 was a 13% increase from last year. The mutuel handle of $29.14 million was the second highest in Del Mar history outside of the Breeders’ Cup, surpassed only by $36.02 million in 2021 when there was a Pick 6 carryover and mandatory payout.