Accelerate Works Through Fog for Pegasus World Cup

In the early morning hours of Jan. 11, trainer John Sadler was a tad concerned he wouldn't get to see his big horse put in his most important work ahead of the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.

Thick fog enveloped Santa Anita Park early Friday, but as Hronis Racing's Accelerate  began to gallop into his drill just after 6:30 a.m. PT, visibility cleared enough to see the blinking red and blue lights attached to exercise rider and assistant Juan Leyva's helmet.

"I'm just glad I got to see it," Sadler said as he watched the son of Lookin At Lucky  walk back to Barn 56, through the Santa Anita paddock area. "At 5 and 5:30, I'm going, 'Oh, God.' It was pretty soupy."

Quickly out ahead of the first group of workers, Accelerate galloped with enthusiasm into the drill and completed seven furlongs in 1:27 1/5 with some encouragement from Leyva.

Sadler was happy with the way Accelerate came through the paddock, showing signs he got something out of the training session.

"He got a little blow out of that," Sadler said to Leyva as Accelerate walked by. "Good."

Sadler and Leyva were on the same page as they referenced the similar workout pattern for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner ahead of his record 12 1/2-length romp in the $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) over the summer.

The stiff, penultimate drill sets up a final, shorter blowout at Santa Anita before he ships to Gulfstream Jan. 21 for the Pegasus.

"He's coming off good spacing from the Breeders' Cup, so we want to have him as ready as possible for his last race," Sadler said. "We're not going to leave anything on the table, like it was a race at the end of the year. This is another Breeders' Cup for him. He's running a mile and an eighth, so he needs to be ready."

With rain expected Jan. 12 at the Arcadia, Calif., track, several top horses had their works moved up a day to Friday. Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner and fellow Pegasus contender City of Light  worked during the 7:45 a.m. training session (five furlongs in 1:00 4/5), as did Malibu Stakes (G1) winner McKinzie (four furlongs in :47 4/5), who also is under consideration for the race. Trainer Bob Baffert said after the work he hasn't made a decision yet on whether McKinzie will run in the Pegasus.

"You like to be right on schedule, but for him it's fine," Sadler said of the slight change in the training schedule for Accelerate. "Every horse is different, and every horse requires a different amount of training, but for this horse—not bragging—but we know what he needs at this point."

Video Link: Accelerate breezes seven furlongs

Video Link: City of Light works five furlongs