Atone Seeks to Repeat in Pegasus Turf

It was already a good day for trainer Mike Maker and his team before Three Diamonds Farm's Atone  rallied for a three-quarter-length victory in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) last January at Gulfstream Park.

Earlier on the program, they saw Endorsed  win the Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3) on the main track and ran 1-2-3 with Red Knight , Value Engineering , and Wicked Fast  in the William L. McKnight Stakes (G3T) on the grass. Oh, and Temple  also ran fifth.

"(Pegasus) is a great day, it really is. Especially last year," said Maker's assistant trainer Nolan Ramsey. "We had a great day overall and then to cap it off in a race like the Pegasus Turf, that's one you'll never forget. Obviously, it's a very big race that attracts some very, very nice horses. To show up and be able to win a race like that really speaks to the volume of your horse."

Maker previously won the Pegasus World Cup Turf with Michael Hui's Zulu Alpha  in 2020.

Entering his 7-year-old season, Atone is getting the chance to defend his title in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus Turf and join Colonel Liam   (2021-22) as a repeat winner. No other horse in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), which was rebranded from the Donn Handicap in 2017, or $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G2T), through its first two runnings since renamed from the Marshua's River Stakes in 2022, has won a second Pegasus race.

The Pegasus World Cup Turf was rebranded in 2019 along with a purse boost after previously being run as the Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes. 

"He's a class act. He shows up it seems like every race. He's always there for you. Very straightforward horse to train," Ramsey said of Atone. "He tells you when he's having a good day, and he'll tell you when he's having a bad one, so he definitely makes our job easy. To have a horse like that that's able to travel the way he does and then show up everywhere he goes, it's very special."

This will be the third Pegasus Turf for Atone, who was fourth to Colonel Liam in 2022, beaten just 1 3/4 lengths at odds of 9-1. He went off at 7-2 last year under Irad Ortiz Jr., who has won the race three straight years and four of the last five. With Ortiz committed to I'm Very Busy  for trainer Chad Brown this year, Oisin Murphy gets the call on Atone.

"He seems like he's best when he can sit off of it just a little bit. Last year's race he was probably a little further back than what I would have liked him to be, but the way the race unfolded it worked out to his advantage and he got a great, clean trip," Ramsey said. "We got very lucky. I'd like to see him be able to relax a little bit and have a target in front of him and make one run, just like he did last year."

Atone tuned up for his title defense running third by a length as the favorite in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Dec. 2 at Gulfstream, one of the first races over its brand-new turf course. A winner of more than $1.3 million in purses from 29 starts, the 7-year-old gelding has not visited the winner's circle since last year's Pegasus Turf.

"The allowance prep probably was a little too short for him. Pacewise, it didn't work out for us. Personally, I thought the turf was playing to speed, especially right as it opened. It seems like now that they've got into it a little more it's playing a little more fair," Ramsey said. "But he came out of the race really well. He's been training really, really well. He's one of those horses that tells you when he's ready to run. Physically he looks different the way he trains every day. He's been forward in his training. He's eating up and doing great. I've got no complaints with him."

Ramsey said the South Florida scene appears to agree with Atone, who has raced at 12 different racetracks in seven states and Canada since making his debut in February 2020 at Gulfstream.

"He's done well down here in the past. Even just watching him in the stall, he looks like a different horse down here. I think he really relishes the warmer temps and the environment a little better," Ramsey said. 

Team Maker's Saturday contingent includes Anatolian  in the $150,000 La Prevoyante Stakes (G3T) and multiple entrants in the McKnight before Atone caps what the stable hopes is another big day.