Cool-Loving Master Piece Sharp Ahead of Pegasus Turf

Using the Belmont Park training track to prepare for a grade 1 stakes on the grass at Gulfstream Park is not the conventional approach, admits trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. This approach, however, seems to be working for 8-year-old Master Piece , who is in good form heading toward the Jan. 27 $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T).

"The biggest thing we have picked up on with this horse is that he prefers the cooler weather," Dutrow said about the ridgling son of Mastercraftsman  who joined the trainer's barn last spring. "That is why he is training where he is. It seems a bit idiotic to breeze him on the training track at Belmont for a grass race in Florida, but it makes sense to him. He is probably the happiest horse in the stable only because (Breeders' Cup Classic, G1, winner) White Abarrio  is in California. He is shining like a penny."

Master Piece worked an easy five furlongs in 1:03.50 at Belmont Jan. 15. Since the start of the year, he's had a series of maintenance works, going four furlongs in :50.45 Jan. 1 and another four furlongs in :49.90 Jan. 9. The plan is to ship the horse to South Florida Jan. 24.

"We will keep him in very light training and hope that what we've done, what we've tried to manage, works out in his favor," the trainer said. "It is not hot in Florida, I've been watching, and it is mild-ish weather, but it is better for him to be training up here."

Haras Don Alberto bred Master Piece out of the 2012 Chilean champion older mare Torre Laguna (CHI). The horse became a multiple stakes winner in Chile, where he won the Gran Clasico Coronacion Pablo Baraona U. Stakes (G2) and was third in the El Derby (G1) before being sent to the United States. With trainer Michael McCarthy, he won the 2022 Eddie Read Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar. Master Piece then changed owners and trainers a couple times before being sent to Dutrow in May 2023. 

For Master Piece's current ownership group of Michael and Jules Iavarone, Nicholas Zoumas, Dino Baccari, Frank Argano, and Peter Douglass, he ran second July 4 in an $80,000 allowance/optional claiming race at Belmont and then finished 10th in August in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1) that was run at Colonial Downs with temperatures in the low 90s.

As the weather started to cool, Dutrow said Master Piece started training better.

"Before he ran (last out), the weather started changing and so did he; he's just been getting better and better," he said. 

Master Piece comes into the Pegasus Turf off a win Nov. 11 in the 1 3/8-mile Red Smith Stakes (G2T) at Aqueduct Racetrack by a neck over multiple grade 1-placed winner Soldier Rising. Jose Lezcano was aboard for the Red Smith win and will be in the saddle for the Pegasus Turf.

The Pegasus Turf is run at 1 1/8 miles, which seems to suit Master Piece, who has three wins out of four starts at this distance. He also has performed well at Gulfstream Park, where he was unplaced in last year's Pegasus Turf but followed with thirds in the Mac Diarmida Stakes (G2T) and Pan American Stakes (G2T). 

"I still don't know him well enough, but we are feeling really good about watching him run big," said Dutrow. "We are getting our judgment from him, and he is throwing all kinds of signs. He has to get over the plane trip. If that does not affect him, then we are hoping he will run the way he has been training following a big run the last time. We are excited about this. He's really a fun horse to train; he's a beauty."

Master Piece is among 12 horses listed on the Jan. 10 second invitational list for the Pegasus Turf. The connections confirmed their intent to run Jan. 14, and the final field is to be published Jan. 17. The latest invitational list includes last year's winner, Atone ; United Nations Stakes (G1T) runner-up Catnip ; undefeated grade 2 winner Integration ; Shirl's Speight , who was second in the Woodbine Mile (G1T); Webslinger , a grade 2 winner who was most recently second in the Hollywood Derby (G1T); and Warm Heart , a multiple group 1 winner in England and France who was second in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T).