Accelerate, City of Light Brilliant in Final Works

Hronis Racing's five-time grade 1 winner Accelerate , an Eclipse Award finalist for Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male honors, turned in the final work of his career Jan. 19 at Santa Anita Park in preparation for the Jan. 26 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

The 6-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky  drilled a bullet five furlongs in :58 4/5 over a fast track under exercise rider Juan Leyva, registering the fastest time of 45 moves at the distance Saturday. The average time for five furlongs was 1:01.25, with the second-fastest time nearly a full second slower than Accelerate's at :59 3/5. 

"The track has a good bottom to it," said trainer John Sadler, who had contemplated working Sunday had the surface not been to his liking after enduring 3 1/2 inches of rain this week.

"It's still got a little moisture in it, and I wanted to go on Saturday all along. We got here and walked on it about 4 in the morning and felt it was pretty good, so cross your fingers and off we go."

Winner of the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) last out at Churchill Downs, Accelerate is set to retire to stud at Lane's End in Kentucky after his bid for a final top-level score in the Pegasus.  

While Accelerate impressed at his home base, Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr.'s multiple grade 1 winner City of Light  also impressed in his final career move. With trainer Mike McCarthy opting to ship the 5-year-old son of Quality Road  to Gulfstream three days prior, City of Light worked the bullet at the South Florida track when he went four furlongs in :47.26, fastest of 103 at the distance Saturday. 

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano was up for the breeze, and he has the mount in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus, which will be City of Light's career finale as well. He is set to join Accelerate at Lane's End after their upcoming engagement. 

"I thought it was a very good work," McCarthy said. "It looked like the horse got over the racetrack nicely. Javier was very pleased. He cooled out well and looks good."

City of Light has now had seven works since his frontrunning triumph in the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Churchill, which came with Castellano aboard. The previous six works were at Santa Anita, McCarthy's home base.

"Javier worked him the week before the Breeders' Cup, and I told him just basically a carbon copy of what we had then, and it was pretty much what I saw," McCarthy said. "That's more or less what we see from him all the time. It's his fourth ship of the year and fourth ship of his career. He doesn't necessarily need to take his environment with him. He settled in nicely here, which is what I wanted to see, and it seems like to this point it's worked out well."

Also working for the Pegasus Saturday were Gunnevera, third in last year's race and an earner of more than $4 million in purses (six furlongs in 1:13 1/5 at Gulfstream Park West); Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) winner Audible (a four-furlong bullet in :48.42 at Palm Beach Downs); and Cigar Mile Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Patternrecognition (four furlongs in :49.45 at Palm Meadows).

Meanwhile, at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Charles Fipke's Seeking the Soul worked five-eighths of a mile in :59 4/5 in his final move for the Pegasus. The work over a fast track was the second-fastest of 42 moves at five furlongs. The clockers caught the Dallas Stewart-trained 6-year-old horse galloping out three-quarters of a mile in 1:13 right after the track opened at 5:45 a.m.

Told that clocker Don Winfree, a longtime trainer of note, summed up the performance as an "A work," Stewart said with a laugh, "Let's go with that. I agree. … The horse worked great. He's doing great."

Seeking the Soul finished fifth in last year's Pegasus and has a 6-5-6 mark in 23 starts for earnings of over $1.7 million, including a victory in Churchill Downs' 2017 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1). He was third in defense of his Clark title, ran second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and won the Sept. 29 Ack Ack Stakes (G3), all at Churchill.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has the Pegasus mount on the son of Perfect Soul .

The other Fair Grounds-based Pegasus contender, GMB Racing's Tenacious Stakes winner Tom's d'Etat, is to have his final work Sunday for trainer Al Stall Jr. 

Working Saturday for the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) were Accelerate's grade 2-winning stablemate Catapult (five furlongs in 1:00 at Santa Anita); 2017 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) winner Bricks and Mortar (five furlongs in :59.50 at Palm Meadows); and Dubby Dubbie (five furlongs in 1:02 4/5 on the grass at Gulfstream).

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas drove through the Gulfstream stable gate Saturday morning at approximately 9 a.m. with Calumet Farm's homebred Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Bravazo after vanning the 4-year-old son of Awesome Again  from Oaklawn Park. Bravazo comes into the Pegasus World Cup off a second-place finish Nov. 23 in the Clark Handicap at Churchill, and he finished third there in the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Like Pegasus World Cup Turf entry Aerolithe, Bravazo is expected to go to the track for the first time Sunday morning.