New Pegasus Format Changes Brown's Thought Process

When trainer Chad Brown first heard about the changes to the Pegasus World Cup races, he believed there were some "positives and negatives" to the moves.

It also has him re-assessing plans he made to run several horses in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Turf (G1T).

The Stronach Group announced Dec. 15 that the purse for the Pegasus turf race will be cut from $7 million to $1 million, the $500,000 entry fee waived, and a no race-day medication rule will be in effect, which eliminates the use of Lasix at least 24 hours before a horse enters the gate. While the three-time Eclipse Award winner had been considering three horses for the Pegasus turf race, Brown said he will huddle with owners before deciding whether to stay the course or target different races.

"It will change my thought process. It's disappointing the purse will not be as much but I also understand you don't have to put up the big entry fee, either. I think there's positives and negatives to the situation and from my standpoint, and my clients' standpoint, it may change things in terms of what type of horses we may participate with," said Brown, who won the inaugural Pegasus turf race earlier this year with Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence's Bricks and Mortar. The favorite for 2019 Horse of the Year earned $2,656,250 from a purse of $6,708,329 after his owners paid the $500,000 entry fee.

Brown said he was considering OXO Equine's Instilled Regard, winner of the Dec. 14 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) at Gulfstream Park, Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Bethlehem Stables' grade 2-placed Sacred Life, and John D. Gunther and Tanya Gunther's Without Parole, who was third in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) in his last start, in the Jan. 25 1 3/16-mile turf test at Gulfstream.

"Lasix potentially comes into play, and the purse as well, in making a decision," said Brown who recently became the first trainer to eclipse $30 million in North American earnings in a year. "If you are going to rest your horse during the winter, a $7 million purse can sway you to delay resting him and give up another engagement in order to run ... These type of things have to be decided on a horse-by-horse, client-by-client basis, and I want to take some time before we do that.

"I have to plot their individual 2020 campaigns and see what the individual goals are. I try to build campaigns for my horses and I have to see if the Pegasus will now fall into one or more of those campaigns or not at all."

Brown added he did not have any candidates for the Pegasus dirt race, which had a purse cut from $9 to $3 million, also with the $500,000 starting fee waived and no race-day medication allowed.