OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The budding rivalry between Pantherian and Wamo began as 2-year-olds last fall and continues into their 3-year-old seasons this winter, with the two New York-breds meeting for a third time in a first-level allowance on Sunday’s eight-race Aqueduct program. Pantherian and Wamo dueled virtually from the beginning of a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on Oct. 24. Wamo crossed the wire first by a head but was disqualified for herding Pantherian out four paths in deep stretch. The two met again in a first-level allowance on Dec. 11 and Wamo chased the front-running Pantherian while longshot Time to Roll made a four-wide move and swept past both of those horses to win by 6 3/4 lengths. Pantherian finished second by 3 1/4 lengths over Wamo. Pantherian, a son of Vekoma who brought $750,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales April 2-year-old in training auction, is trained by Todd Pletcher for WinStar Farm and First Go Racing. He has been an odds-on favorite in his first two starts and figures the choice again in this 6 1/2-furlong race. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Flavien Prat, who has been aboard Pantherian and Wamo, as well as last-out maiden-claiming winner Escape Hall – also in this field – rides Pantherian. After his disqualification on Oct. 24, Wamo came back to win a maiden race by a nose on Nov. 22 over Party in the Army. That race was run over a sloppy track and there is rain in the forecast for part of the weekend. Party in the Army, trained by Jeremiah Englehart, came out of that nose defeat to win his maiden by 5 1/2 lengths on Dec. 12 and is back in this field. Doc Sullivan may try Pegasus Though he is currently on the reserve list, New York-bred stakes winner Doc Sullivan is being strongly considered for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 24, racing manager Chance Moquett said Friday. Doc Sullivan, coming off back-to-back stakes win in restricted company, recently returned to trainer John Ortiz’s Belmont Park barn after a two-week stay at GMP Farm in Schuylerville, N.Y. Both Ortiz and Moquett had high praise for the team at GMP, where horses can take advantage of a hyperbaric chamber as well as being turned out in paddocks. Ortiz said both Doc Sullivan and Moe Eighty Eight, who spent time at GMP following a powerful allowance win on Dec. 27, “both came back looking like monsters.” Both were possible to return to the work tab over the weekend. Doc Sullivan and Moe Eighty Eight are owned by Tristar Farm. Trainers of horses with invites to the Pegasus must declare by 10 a.m. Sunday their intent to run. Should there be defections from the current list and Doc Sullivan moves into the body of the field, Moquett said he and Tristar are inclined to run. “We’ve got a horse that’s doing very good and if everything continues to go perfect by John Ortiz’s eye and his team in New York then I think it’s a great race to see if we can answer some questions about him from a distance and a class standpoint,” Moquett said. “It’s an honor just to be considered for a race like the Pegasus.” The Pegasus is run at 1 1/8 miles. In three tries at that distance, Doc Sullivan was beaten one length by Pandagate in the 2024 Albany Stakes; was sixth, beaten 9 3/4 lengths by Seize the Grey in that year’s Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby; and finished second by a neck to Bank Frenzy in the Empire Classic last Oct. 25. Since the Empire Classic, Doc Sullivan has won the seven-furlong Thunder Rumble division of the New York Stallion Series on Nov. 22 and the one-mile Alex M. Robb for New York-breds on Dec. 26. If Doc Sullivan does not get into the Pegasus then either he or Moe Eighty Eight would likely point to the $135,000 Say Florida Sandy, a seven-furlong stakes for New York-breds on Feb. 14. “I would expect us to go in the Say Florida Sandy with one or the other depending on what we decide with the Pegasus,” Moquett said. Meanwhile Moquett said that Braverthanubelieve, winner of the $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series on Dec. 6 for Tristar, recently returned to Ortiz’s barn from a 30-day break at GMP Farm. Moquett said the filly, who is 2 for 2, is being pointed to the $200,000 Busher Stakes going a one-turn mile here on Feb. 28. The Busher offers qualifying points toward the May 1 Kentucky Oaks. “She’s done nothing wrong and handled all her competition,” Moquett said. “We’ll give her a shot at a one-turn mile race that if she wins she’s in the Oaks. It’s fun to dream.” Drexel Hill, last year’s Busher winner, finished second in the Kentucky Oaks. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.