The Pegasus World Cup Invitational is one of the most expensive races of all time. The purse is $9,000,000 with a guaranteed 4,000,000 going to the winner of the race. This race is for three year olds and up. The race will be on the main track, and traveling at a distance of 1 1/8 miles or 9 furlongs. The weather forecast for Saturday calls for 68 degrees, 10 mph winds, and showers.
The morning line favorite of the race is Accelerate, he drew the 5th position in the race. This horse is a multiple grade one winner and at this distance has a record of four starts with three 1st place finishes and one 2nd place finish. This horse is trained by John Sadler, and is going to be rode by Joe Rosario. Rosario has been ridding this horse for the last 3 mounts, with finishes in first place. Accelerate has not been a dominant horse, only winning by 1 to 2 lengths in his last two starts. This horse will have a great chance of leading from the start and never looking back.
A horse that can catch the favorite, which is my top selection in this race in the 3rd position, is City of Light. City of Light is perfect at this distance and the only one in this field to previously beat Accelerate. The horse has been trained by Michael McCarthy, and it’s going to be rode by Javier Casellano. In this horse’s last start he lead all the way, beating Seeking the Soul (position 4 horse) and Bravazo (position 1 horse) at 1 mile. This horse can handle the distance because he beat Accelerate at this distance by a neck back in April at a grade II event. The only downside to this horse, is that he has raced only one time at Church Hill Downs on a questionable fast course and all other wins came in sunny California.
Another horse that is also noteworthy is in the 10th position, Audible. This horse is my third selection in the race because he has been jumping around between classes and not winning by much at the lower levels. This horse is trained by Todd Pletcher. Flavien Prat will climb aboard Audible for the first time which can be a learning curve for the rider and the horse. Although, the last start for this horse he came in 2nd on a sloppy track back in December and if the weather forecast holds, this horse may be able to slip into the top 3.
If the rain is coming down and the race track has been beat to a pulp, I will be looking for horses that have been there before, and that horse is the 12th horse, Patternrecognition. This horse has raced twice in the slop winning bother races in 1st, but he only posted a beyer speed rating of 100. This horse is trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Jose Ortiz and this is Ortiz’s forth time on the horse. The downside of this horse is that he never raced at this distance, and he has been spotty posting more second place finishes than first place finishes, and in this field seems to be a huge red flag.
My long shot of the race is the 6th horse Tom’s d’ Etat. This horse is stepping way up in class, and has never won a Grade I race. However, this horse has not competed in a graded event, but the horse has never lost at this distance, posting a beyer speed rating of 106. This horse has also raced on wet ground twice winning 1 of 2 with a beyer of 106.
My picks for this race is:
Win / place : 3, 5
Win/Place/Show : 6 ,12
Exacta: Key Box 3 with 5, 6, 10, 12
Trifecta: 3, 5 on top w/ 6, 10, 12
Superfecta: Box 3, 5, 6, 12
Superfecta: Box 3, 5, 10, 12
Bonus:
.20 Pick six:
Race 7: 4, 5
Race 8: 6, 9
Race 9: 8, 1, 9
Race 10: 7, 9
Race 11: 2, 7, 3, 9
Race 12: 3, 5, 6, 12
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