Field of 10 to Square Off in Wide-Open Pegasus

If there's a slogan for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1), "What a difference a day makes" would be the odds-on choice.

On Jan. 22, when posts were drawn for the Jan. 25 1 1/8-mile stakes at Gulfstream Park, there was an intriguing field of 12 starters.

For the first time in the four-year history of the Pegasus, the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner was not on hand. Yet the race did feature a rematch between Spun to Run and Omaha Beach , the first- and second-place finishers in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and there was drama with the Pegasus serving as the final race for Omaha Beach, a popular three-time grade 1 winner.

Then, a day later, everything changed. The morning of Jan. 23 started with Spun to Run being scratched because of a skin disease.

A few hours later, Omaha Beach was scratched when X-rays revealed what could be the start of a cannon bone fracture.

"Racing cannot catch a break," two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert said.

And so, after absorbing that 1-2 punch to the solar plexus, the Pegasus will take place at approximately 5:34 p.m. ET Saturday with a medication-free field of 10 without a true star, and just two grade 1 winners in Hronis Racing's Higher Power and Charles Fipke's Seeking the Soul, who was second to City of Light  in last year's Pegasus.

Yet in the original morning-line odds, when Omaha Beach and Spun to Run were expected to run, Higher Power was 6-1 and Seeking the Soul was 30-1.

Both horses should be lower prices Saturday when Higher Power, the Baffert-trained Mucho Gusto, and Tax will vie for favoritism at the betting windows in a race that was once the richest in the world—it was worth $9 million last year—but is now third in that regard in North America. 

Higher Power, a 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro , posted his top-level win in the $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), scoring by 5 1/4 lengths in Del Mar's centerpiece event. 

Since then, he was third in the Awesome Again Stakes (G1) and in the Classic, where he finished behind winner Vino Rosso , now a Spendthrift Farm stallion, and Baffert's McKinzie, who will join fellow Americans Maximum Security, Midnight Bisou, Tacitus, and Math Wizard in the $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 29 in Saudi Arabia. 

"In the Breeders' Cup Classic, he got away slowly and was third. I think with a good break in the Breeders' Cup, he'd probably have been right there close for second," trainer John Sadler said of Higher Power. "He has a lot of stamina, and he's improving."

Higher Power has five wins in 15 starts and earnings of $1,376,648.

Mucho Gusto, a 4-year-old Mucho Macho Man  colt owned by Prince Faisal bin Khalid, originally had post 10 but will now leave post 8. Yet even with his horse moving a couple of spots closer to the rail, Baffert still views how his horse breaks from the gate as the crucial factor in a race with a notoriously short run to the first turn.

"The break is the key there, and then you have to see how they handle the track," Baffert said.

Mucho Gusto has not raced since Sept. 29, when he finished fourth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3), but Baffert has a long history of getting horses ready for top efforts after lengthy layoffs.

A winner of five of 10 starts and $779,800, Mucho Gusto has four wins in grade 3 stakes.

Out of the Giant's Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway, he was sold at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale from the Kirkwood Stables consignment for $625,000 to Michael Lund Petersen, who recently sold him privately to Faisal Khalid.

Though it rained Thursday at Gulfstream, the prospect of clear skies on race day was disappointing to Baffert.

"I'm going to do my rain dance. My horse moves up five lengths in the mud," Baffert said about the 4 3/4-length winner of the 2019 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) on a sloppy track.

Tax will look to become the latest member of the 2016 crop to rise from the maiden claiming ranks to become the winner of a grade 1 race worth $1 million or more, a role already played by Maximum Security and Math Wizard.

Claimed for $50,000 as a 2-year-old in 2018, Tax won last year's Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) for trainer Danny Gargan and owners Hugh Lynch, R. A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and Corms Racing Stable. 

He then finished seventh in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) from the outside post and prepped for the Pegasus with a second-place finish in the Nov. 30 Discovery Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.

Gargan is hoping to add grade 1 honors to his rags-to-riches gelding who has earned $828,300.

"Even with the scratches, if this horse wins, it will still be a huge day," Gargan said about the 4-year-old originally listed at 12-1 on the morning line. "I'm just proud that he can run in these kind of events. He is a tremendous animal."

Tax, a son of Arch out of the Giant's Causeway mare Toll, pressed the early pace from second in most of his 10 starts. In the Discovery, he was fifth in the opening stages, and Gargan believes a more relaxed style should be beneficial in the Pegasus, even with the defections of the speedy Spun to Run and Omaha Beach.

"Instead of four horses, I see three going for the lead, and we'll sit on the rail fourth instead of fifth," Gargan said. "The big thing is that we won't be 12-1 anymore. Maybe it will be 5-1."

Long odds accompanied the 7-year-old Seeking the Soul to the starting gate for last year's Pegasus as he was sent off at 34-1, then rallied to finish second, 5 3/4 lengths behind City of Light. He was fifth in the 2018 Pegasus as a 41-1 shot.

Since the 2019 Pegasus, he's run seven times, and his only finish better than third was a victory in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at his beloved Churchill Downs, where he registered his first grade 1 win in the 2017 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1). 

A runner-up at Churchill Downs in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at 10-1, the homebred son of Perfect Soul has won seven of 31 starts, with earnings of $3,420,153. He was sixth in the Nov. 29 Clark in his most recent start.

"He ran second last year to a great horse. He's feeling good, he's galloping good, so we'll see," trainer Dallas Stewart said. "He's made close to $3.5 million, so maybe he'll add some more millions to that. He's just a warrior. He's 7, and I could picture him running a couple more years. If that happens, I don't know, but I can see it happening."

Among the other starters are Calumet Farm's True Timber, who was seventh for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in last year's race at 73-1 and third in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) in his most recent start; recent Gulfstream graded stakes winners Diamond Oops, who took the Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) for trainer Patrick Biancone and owners Diamond 100 Racing Club, Amy Dunne, D P Racing, and Patrick Biancone Racing; and Imaginary Stables and Glenn Ellis' War Story, who won the Harlan's Holiday Stakes (G3) for trainer Elizabeth Dobles. War Story was 10th in the 2018 Pegasus and fifth in 2017.

There might not be a champion or Breeders' Cup winner on hand, but for the first time, there's a wide-open race that could produce a surprise.

"At the end of the day," Baffert said, "it will still be an exciting race."

Entries: Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. presented by Runhappy (G1)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 25, 2020, Race 12

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $3,000,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 5:34 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1True Timber (KY)	Joe Bravo	124	Kiaran P. McLaughlin	15/1
2	2Tax (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	124	Danny Gargan	8/1
3	3Diamond Oops (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	124	Patrick L. Biancone	15/1
4	4Seeking the Soul (KY)	John R. Velazquez	124	Dallas Stewart	30/1
5	5Omaha Beach (KY)	Mike E. Smith	124	Richard E. Mandella	1/1
6	6Higher Power (KY)	Flavien Prat	124	John W. Sadler	6/1
7	7War Story (KY)	Joel Rosario	124	Elizabeth L. Dobles	30/1
8	8Mr Freeze (KY)	Luis Saez	124	Dale L. Romans	20/1
98	9Spun to Run (KY)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
10	10Mucho Gusto (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Bob Baffert	9/2
11	11Tenfold (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	124	Steven M. Asmussen	30/1
12	12Bodexpress (KY)	Emisael Jaramillo	124	Gustavo Delgado	30/1