Defending champion and projected 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go , Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Life Is Good , and undefeated Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) winner Flightline highlight a list of 19 horses invited to compete in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park.
A total of seven graded stakes worth $5.2 million in purses will be offered on Pegasus Day, led by the return of the Pegasus World Cup and $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1T) and the debut of the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3T).
All three races are for 4-year-olds and up. The Pegasus World Cup and Pegasus Turf are both contested at 1 1/8 miles while the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf, previously run as the Marshua's River Stakes, will be run at 1 1/16 miles.
Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go ended 2021 on a four-race win streak, all in graded stakes, including the Whitney (G1) and Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Winner of the 2020 Dirt Mile, he began last year with an emphatic 2 3/4-length triumph in the Pegasus World Cup and is seeking to become its first repeat champion.
Also among invitees to the Pegasus World Cup from the barn of trainer Brad Cox are Concert Tour and Mandaloun . Gary and Mary West homebred Concert Tour won the San Vicente (G2) and Rebel (G2) stakes in 2021 but has not raced since finishing ninth in the Preakness Stakes (G1), all for previous trainer Bob Baffert. Juddmonte homebred Mandaloun ran second to Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and is also coming off a layoff following his triumph in the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1).
WinStar Farm and China Horse Club's Life Is Good was dominant in a front-running 5 3/4-length victory in the Dirt Mile Nov. 6 at Del Mar, his fifth win from six career starts and first grade 1 after triumphs in the Kelso Handicap (G2), San Felipe Stakes (G2), and Sham Stakes (G3) last year. He has been breezing regularly since mid-December in South Florida for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
"Life Is Good we've been pointing for the Pegasus since the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. He got a short freshening at WinStar and he's come in with that as our goal," Pletcher said. "Everything has gone according to plan. He's never run at Gulfstream, but he's the kind of horse where his style should suit Gulfstream well."
Other Pletcher-trained horses on the Pegasus World Cup invite list are Dr Post, Fearless, and Happy Saver . St. Elias Stable's Dr Post is a two-time grade 3 winner that is 2-0 at Gulfstream including the 2020 Unbridled Stakes; Repole Stable's Fearless exits a victory in Gulfstream's Harlan's Holiday Stakes (G3) Dec. 18; and Wertheimer and Frere homebred Happy Saver won the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) as a 3-year-old in 2020 then ran second in defense of his title as well as in the Nov. 26 Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1).
The $150,000 Fred W. Hooper (G3) for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on the main track as part of the undercard is also an alternative.
"Not sure who else we could potentially have for it. We're kind of waiting to see how Dr Post and Happy Saver and Fearless train. We also have the mile race that day on the dirt as an option for those horses," Pletcher said. "We're also considering maybe Happy Saver going to Saudi, so we're just kind of, as always, seeing how everyone's training and how they're coming up to these."
Undefeated Malibu winner Flightline, trained by John Sadler, has raced only three times but has won those races by a combined 37 1/2 lengths while being hand ridden to the finish line in each. Sadler has not announced any plans for Flightline's next race. Flightline is owned by Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing.
Completing the Pegasus World Cup invitations are 2019 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) winner Eight Rings , multiple graded stakes winner Express Train, 2021 Pat O'Brien (G2) winner Ginobili, millionaire and 2021 Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Midnight Bourbon, 2019 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sir Winston , and 2021 Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Super Stock .
Concert Tour, Endorsed , and Fearless are among the invitees on the also-eligible list, along with Chess Chief , Officiating, Stilleto Boy, and Title Ready .
Colonel Liam Among Turf Invitees
Defending champion Colonel Liam and fellow grade 1 winners Channel Cat, Hit the Road, Point Me By, and Two Emmys are among 18 horses invited to the Pegasus World Cup Turf.
Robert and Lawana Low's Colonel Liam won the Tropical Park Derby during the 2020-21 Championship Meet as a prelude to his Pegasus Turf victory by a neck over stablemate Largent. Colonel Liam went on to win the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T) and Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) and was eighth in last June's Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes (G1T) in his most recent start.
"We've kind of had in mind that our best approach for him to try and defend his Turf title is just to train up to it. He had some time off and he's a horse that we think will run well fresh," Pletcher said. "He's put enough into his training that hopefully we can have him ready to run a good race off the layoff."
Largent and Never Surprised are also on the list of Pegasus Turf invitees. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Largent won the 2020 Fort Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) as a prep for the Pegasus Turf and went unraced until finishing fourth in the Jan. 8 Tropical Turf Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream. Repole Stable's Never Surprised, placed in three graded stakes, became a three-time stakes winner with his triumph in Gulfstream's Tropical Park Derby Dec. 26.
"Never Surprised, we were happy with his race over the course. It's kind of similar to what Colonel Liam did last year, going from the Tropical Derby to the Pegasus," Pletcher said.
Trainer Mike Maker won the 2020 Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha, and four of his horses are among the invitee list: Atone, Cross Border, Field Pass, and Flavius . Three Diamonds Farm owns Atone, runner-up in the Dec. 18 Fort Lauderdale, and multiple graded stakes winners Cross Border, third in the 2021 Pegasus Turf, and Field Pass. Maker recently added Flavius, a stakes winner in the U.S. and Europe.
Also invited to the Pegasus Turf are grade 1-winning millionaire Channel Cat, Fort Lauderdale winner Doswell, 2021 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) winner Hit the Road, two-time grade 2 winner March to the Arch, 2021 Bruce D. Stakes (G1T) winner Point Me By, Irish group 2 winner Space Traveller who was fourth in the Fort Lauderdale, 2021 Mr. D. Stakes (G1T) winner Two Emmys, and Sacred Life , a grade/group 3 winner in the U.S. and France trained by Chad Brown, who won the 2019 Pegasus Turf with Bricks and Mortar en route to Horse of the Year honors.
Atone and Space Traveller are joined on the also-eligible list by Bob and Jackie, English Bee, Flavius, and Law Professor.
15 Invited to Filly & Mare Turf
Grade 1 winners Abscond, Lady Speightspeare, Mucho Unusual, and Regal Glory top 15 horses invited to the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. Abscond in 2019 and Lady Speightspeare in 2020 captured the Natalma Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine; Mucho Unusual won the 2020 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) and Regal Glory won the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) Nov. 28 at Del Mar to cap her 2021 campaign.
Also on the invite list is the Low's Sweet Melania, who earned her third career graded stakes triumph in the Dec. 18 Suwannee River Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream. She also shares the shedrow for Pletcher, who joins Richard Baltas (Ginobili, Bob and Jackie, Bodhicitta) as the only trainers with invitees in all three races.
"We plan to run Sweet Melania in there. She ran good in her last start and it's good timing for her to come back. She's really come out of that race in sharp form, so that's what we're thinking there," Pletcher said. "Fingers crossed, (20) days out, we've got some chances. We'll hope everything goes smoothly."
Rounding out the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf invitees are two-time grade 3 winner Alms, 2020 Yellow Ribbon Handicap (G2T) winner Bodhicitta, 2021 Edgewood Stakes Presented by Newport Racing & Gaming (G2T) winner Gift List, 2021 American Oaks (G1T) runner-up Nicest, multiple graded stakes winner Princess Grace, 2021 Noble Damsel Stakes (G3T) winner Shifty She, 2021 Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes (G3T) winner Summer in Saratoga, and In a Hurry who was third to Sweet Melania in the Suwannee River.
The also-eligible list includes Abscond, Bipartisanship, and Burgoo Alley.
