DEL MAR, Calif. – The Cup is coming to Del Mar. Erik Johnson, the veteran defenseman of the Colorado Avalanche, has decided that Del Mar will play a significant part of his day with the Stanley Cup, an honor each player and coach is afforded during the summer after winning hockey’s top prize. Johnson’s day is Saturday, when the Pacific Classic highlights a blockbuster day of racing here. Also on the card is the Del Mar Derby, a race in which Mackinnon, a colt Johnson co-owns and who is named for his teammate, center Nathan MacKinnon, is scheduled to compete. “Del Mar is one of my happy places,” Johnson, who has made Del Mar his summer home away from home in recent years, said in a recent telephone interview. “Special moments are best shared with special people, and I’ll have a lot of friends and family at Del Mar that day, and we can do it in great, 75-degree weather. “Win or lose with Mackinnon, we’re going to have fun regardless. It’s fun, though, to have a rooting interest. It’s going to be a fun day overall.” :: DRF's Del Mar headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more Johnson is making the most of his day with the Cup. It will start Saturday morning in Denver, where Johnson will host a small group of family and friends who will then fly to California to attend the races, Cup in tow. A representative of the Hockey Hall of Fame, where the Cup resides in Toronto when not traveling, will accompany the party. “Hoping to bring it to the paddock for Mackinnon’s race,” Johnson said. “Del Mar has been pretty accommodating. I’ll get to combine two of my favorite things, hockey and horse racing.” This will mark the first time the Stanley Cup has ever been at Del Mar. It will not, however, be the first time the Cup has visited a racetrack. In 1994, after the New York Rangers won the Cup, Eddie Olczyk took the Cup to Belmont Park and had that year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Go for Gin, eat out of it at trainer Nick Zito’s barn. Johnson, 34, has played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League, the last 12 with the Avalanche. He said finally winning the Cup for the first time after all those years was “like a trainer who has never won the Kentucky Derby finally winning the Derby.” “It’s all I’ve wanted to do, since I was 5 years old,” he said. “I waited almost 30 years. I think the longer you wait, the sweeter it is once it happens.” The respect Johnson holds among his teammates was evident in the moments after the Avalanche won. As is custom, the Cup is presented to the team captain, in this case Gabriel Landeskog. After Landeskog raised the Cup and skated with it, the first person he handed it off to was Johnson. :: Visit the Del Mar Handicapping Store for Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Picks, Betting Strategies and more. “Very emotional, just a surreal moment,” Johnson said. “It was indescribable.” Johnson and his teammates have had plenty of fun with the Cup. Johnson’s avatar on Twitter is a picture of him in bed, the morning after the Cup win, his arm around the Cup. As is custom with hockey players, plenty of celebratory drinking took place with the Cup. “We poured a bunch of wine in there, but it had a real metallic taste,” Johnson said. “I can tell you that you can fit 14 beers into it. We did a lot of testing.” In recent weeks, players and coaches have had their days with the Cup, and many have incorporated places of significance to them. The Avalanche coach, Jared Bednar, took the Cup to his off-season home of Charleston, S.C. Last week, Nazem Kadri took it to a mosque in London, Ontario. MacKinnon had it at his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Landeskog had it in his native Sweden, where he visited a children’s hospice. Earlier this summer, Johnson with teammates took the Cup to a children’s hospital in Denver. Johnson particularly gravitates to cancer patients, because his family has been impacted by cancer. A child he’s befriended, who suffers from brain cancer, will be part of his entourage at Del Mar on Saturday. It’s all part of Johnson’s day with the Cup, a celebration 30 years in the making. “The Cup is so great,” he said. “Whether or not you know anything about hockey, it brings pure joy. It makes people happy.”