Pegasus World Cup Analysis

By Derek Simon

This week’s USRacing.com Race of the Week is the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. And while this year’s $16 million Gulfstream Park feature may lack the luster of last year’s inaugural event, which featured a Breeders’ Cup Class rematch between the reigning Horse of the Year Arrogate and California Chrome, who was making the final start of his storied career, it still drew some great entrants.

In fact, I would argue that, in terms of depth, this year’s field is far better than the field that was assembled on Jan. 28, 2017. Last year, there were four Grade I winners in the field — the aforementioned Arrogate and California Chrome, along with Keen Ice and Shaman Ghost. (Eragon was also a Grade I winner, but in Argentina, where the competition is considerably softer.) This year, there are a half dozen Grade I champions entered, including two horses (Stellar Wind and Gun Runner) that have accounted for 11 Grade I victories between them.

Here’s horse-by-horse look at the field (click).