Reeves Hoping Tax Can Repay Some Pegasus Bills

Dean Reeves has a different perspective on winning the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) than virtually all the other owners involved in the Jan. 25 stakes.

"If I win this year, maybe I'll be even," Reeves said.

Reeves is an alumnus of the first three years of the Pegasus and is back with a new array of partners for the fourth year, hoping to even his financial ledger and erase much of the red ink.

Racing with different sets of partners, Reeves was eighth in the inaugural 2017 Pegasus with Breaking Lucky , then 12th in 2018 with Toast of New York. Last year, he tried his luck in the first Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) and finished fifth with Channel Maker.

Given that the lofty entry fees for the three races were $1 million, $350,000, and $500,000, and that Reeves and his partners received purse checks of $250,000 and $442,708 plus a rebate of about $100,000 from the year-one structure, Reeves and Co. lost a little more than $1 million chasing a victory.

Yet that's all part of the past.

Though the Pegasus purse has been reduced from $9 million in 2019 to $3 million for the dirt race Saturday, the pay-for-starting-slot model has been scrapped, and Reeves is hopeful that in the 4-year-old gelding Tax, he has the horse who can finally put him in the thick of the battle at the wire in the 1 1/8-mile stakes at Gulfstream Park.

"I think this is our best shot," he said. "Breaking Lucky ran well, but we have a legit chance with Tax. He's training well, and that's all you can ask. He's had some great works, and we think we have a real good shot."

Tax, a grade 2-winning son of Arch, was listed at 12-1 in the original Pegasus morning line, though he now figures to be a far shorter price following the scratches of favorites Omaha Beach  and Spun to Run. 

Reflecting on that initial price, Randy Hill, who also owns a share of Tax and partnered with Reeves on their three Pegasus starters, believes their gelding does not get the credit he deserves.

"He never gets the respect he should," Hill said. "I read stories about him, and people say he's a good horse but nothing great. He just came back from a layoff and ran a 101 Beyer (Speed Figure). What more do they want a horse to do?"

Though Tax does not have a grade 1 win like Higher Power and Seeking the Soul, he has been a highly consistent runner since Gargan and owner Hugh Lynch claimed him for $50,000 at Keeneland on Oct. 21, 2018, and Reeves, Hill, and Lucas Stritsman's Corms Racing Stable joined the group later.

In eight starts since, his only weak efforts came on a sloppy track when he was elevated to 14th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) when seventh from post 12. 

Gargan still laments running Tax in the Midsummer Derby at Saratoga Race Course from such a difficult post.

"I should have scratched him from the Travers. We would have won the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) if I did," he said.

Tax's best day came when he beat Tacitus by three-quarters of a length in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at the Spa, a result that was not a complete surprise given Tax's other efforts against Tacitus. He was second to the Juddmonte Farms star in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2), only 1 1/4 lengths behind, and fourth in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), just 1 3/4 lengths behind Tacitus, who was second to Sir Winston.

Bred by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider out of the Giant's Causeway mare Toll, Tax has three wins, two in graded stakes, three seconds, and one third from 10 starts. 

"He's not far off from being up there with the upper echelon of the best older horses, and if you can pick up a half-length or a half-second somewhere, he can be very tough on Saturday," Reeves said.

A fever kept Tax out of the Oklahoma Derby (G3) last fall and then the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), but he returned from a three-month layoff Nov. 30 at Aqueduct Racetrack with a solid second behind trainer Shug McGaughey's promising Performer in the Discovery Stakes. 

Aside from being a useful prep for the Pegasus, the Discovery presented an opportunity to keep Tax farther off the pace than usual. Instead of racing in second or third as is his wont, the gelding was fifth of seven in the early stages. He rallied to get within a half-length of Performer in midstretch before fatigue set in and he lost by 1 1/4 lengths, recording a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Since then, Tax has put on weight and inspired confidence in his ability to build off his comeback race.

"I think that's the kind of race we can go forward off," Gargan said. "He's training great. He looks bigger and stronger. He looks fabulous. I couldn't be happier. He's going to run his race."

Gargan is hoping the experiment in the Discovery will return a dramatically bigger dividend in the Pegasus, potentially leaving jockey Jose Ortiz able to work out a ground-saving trip on him behind the early speed from post 2.

"We've been trying to teach him to come off the pace because it will give him another dimension. You have more options," Gargan said. "It we can sit fourth or fifth in this race, we'll be in great shape. The inside horse (True Timber) doesn't have a lot of speed, so if Tax breaks like he usually does, he's going to come out of there running and we'll be first or second after the first two jumps. Then he can settle third, fourth, or fifth, and turning for home, hopefully everything plays our way."

Regardless of how the Pegasus turns out for Tax, little can diminish the story of a gelding who was acquired in a shake at the claim box for $50,000 and has earned $809,500 for his new connections.

"He's special," Gargan said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with him. You don't expect to get a horse like him in a claiming race. I'm just blessed to be the guy who got him. It's crazy."

Hill is well versed in Gargan's success with claimers as he and Stritsman owned Divine Miss Grey, who was claimed for $16,000 in 2017 and under the care of the Kentucky native amassed about $888,000 in earnings before she died in August during surgery to repair a fractured sesamoid.

"Danny is really great at claiming horses," Hill said.

For Reeves, the experience with Tax has opened his eyes to the value of scouring claiming races for hidden talent.

"I think people are looking at claiming races a lot harder than they used to," he said. "It's been shown that some owners, and I'm as guilty of this as anyone, are impatient or anxious. We want to run and win, and we don't give a horse enough time to mature. In claiming, you can go in there and get lucky. These are horses that can win you some money, and you are not paying much to get into these horses."

For Reeves, Tax may have arrived on the scene one year too late to chase a massive purse at the Pegasus, but he feels the new structure—with a $3 million purse tied to no entry fees and a ban on the use of Lasix—is a proper fit in a landscape that includes the new $20 million Saudi Cup next month.

"I think this is the right formula for the Pegasus. It works better for ownership groups who want to put their horses in there and gets Gulfstream a good, competitive field. Three years ago, we didn't know about the Saudi Cup, and that's created a different deal," Reeves said. "We'll see if they can lock in this format and then maybe they can play with the purse money. Hopefully, $3 million is the bottom and they can work it up from there depending on the handle they get and how it's received."

For now, given what happened in the past three years, Reeves is more than happy to take a big swing at a purse that has only a handful of rivals in North America.

"Three million dollars is still a lot of money," Reeves said. "I don't know if it is for anyone else, but it's a lot for me."

Especially when you consider all those Pegasus bills.