West Coast May Inherit Divisional Mantle

It only lasted a hot second. But for that brief, wonderful moment, as he watched his charge run right up to the horse hailed as the nation's best, Bob Baffert thought he was about to witness the passing of the torch in the handicap division at Gulfstream Park.

"I really thought, 'Maybe this is my turn. This could happen. There is a new sheriff in town,'" the Hall of Fame trainer said of watching his champion protégé West Coast get to the neck of Horse of the Year Gun Runner  on the far turn of the $16.3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1). "But Gun Runner didn't want any part of that."

West Coast—like all those not named Arrogate  in the last 12 months—ended up with a futile task in his attempt to reel in his indefatigable rival. But with Gun Runner slated to head off to stud at Three Chimneys Farm following his fifth straight grade 1 triumph, the 4-year-old son of Flatter  who ended up 2 1/2 lengths behind him at the wire Saturday may yet pick up the mantle as the top older horse in training.

Following a late-blooming sophomore campaign that saw him win the Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (G1) before he finished third in his first test against elders in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), West Coast earned the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male. In giving Gun Runner an honest fight coming into the stretch of the Jan. 27 Pegasus, the bay colt also may have earned himself a trip to Meydan Racecourse in March for a potential run in the $10 million Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1).

As clear-cut a superior horse as Gun Runner was Saturday, West Coast was just as emphatically the next best. He finished 10 3/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Gunnevera, with the likes of his grade 1-winning stablemate Collected and fellow top-level victors Seeking the Soul and Sharp Azteca never mounting a serious challenge. Though Baffert didn't commit to a Dubai venture for West Coast, he pointed out that the race's 1 1/4-mile distance is right in his wheelhouse—and would provide the colt a Gun Runner-free avenue to flaunt his best stuff.

"Unless they bring that son of a gun back," Baffert joked when asked if West Coast was the best older horse going in the wake of Gun Runner's slated retirement. "I'd have to sit down with Gary West (and talk about Dubai). Gary always wants to do right by horse. He'll defer to the horse. The horse will let us know what is going on. But he does love (that distance)."