Art Collector in good shape following dominant win in Pegasus World Cup
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Bill Mott said Art Collector was happy, bright and seemed to be “feeling pretty good about himself” Sunday morning at Payson Park. And well he should have been after running 11 talented rivals off their feet on route to a super impressive 4 1/2-length victory in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Art Collector not only won the nine-furlong Pegasus World Cup in one-sided fashion, he showed a new dimension, rating early before rallying from several lengths off the lead to his 11th and richest victory in 21 career starts. The $1.68 million payday swelled his career earnings to over $4 million. He is owned and was bred by Bruce Lunsford.
Art Collector, a 6-year-old son of Bernardini, received a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, matching his career best, which came for his victory in the Grade 1 Woodward at Belmont Park during the fall of 2021. Junior Alvarado rode Art Collector for the first time in the Pegasus World Cup.
Mott said he knew Art Collector was doing well going into the Pegasus World Cup, his first start since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs nearly four months earlier.
“I felt like he was training well, but you can’t really predict the outcome in races like these because you don’t know about how the rest of them are doing,” Mott said Sunday. “I can’t really say if he exceeded expectations yesterday, because I really didn’t know what to expect. But I do like the fact he was able to do it in a different fashion than some of those other races, when he was able to steal the lead and go, and show a dimension that he hadn’t shown in a while. We made a conscious decision yesterday not to run him off his feet and see if he could do it that way. And it worked out well.”
Mott said plans for Art Collector for the rest of the year have yet to be made.
“He’s had a good year already,” Mott said with a laugh. “Bruce came out this morning with his wife to visit at Payson Park and the subject of what to do next never even came up in the conversation. He was so thrilled about the outcome yesterday, I think he just wanted to enjoy it for a while.”
Trainer Bob Baffert said he was proud of the effort Defunded turned in finishing second in the Pegasus World Cup.
“I thought it was a good spot for him,” Baffert said by phone on Sunday. “We ran our race. Turning for home I started getting excited but then Art Collector found a gear we didn’t have. We got the perfect trip, we just got outrun and were second best.”
Baffert said he’s had no discussions about what might be next for Defunded, winner of the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.
“He’ll come back to California and we’ll see how he’s doing,” said Baffert. “You know me, I’m a week-to-week kind of guy.”
:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets.
Trainer Saffie Joseph reported that all three of his Pegasus World Cup runners, Skippylongstocking, White Abarrio and O’Connor, came back in good order after finishing seventh, eighth and 11th.
“Obviously it was very disappointing,” Joseph said just prior to sending out Stat to upset Sunday’s sixth race at odds of 22-1. “None of them really had any excuses, even O’Connor, who broke from post 12. He just didn’t run at all. We’ll just have to regroup and move forward from here.”
Ginny Reid, the wife and assistant to trainer Butch Reid Jr., said Riden With Biden was doing well Sunday morning after being eased to the wire far behind the others by jockey Julien Leparoux.
“He grabbed his right quarter but otherwise he’s fine,” said Reid. “He wasn’t even tired when he came back. It was disappointing. He’ll head to the farm in Ocala for a couple of months for a little rest.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.