City of Light dodges bullet in Pegasus World Cup draw
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One couldn’t have blamed trainer Michael McCarthy if his heart was in his throat in the final moments of Tuesday’s post position draw for Saturday’s $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational – not with dreaded post 12 one of only two options left in the box for his Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light.
Fortunately, for McCarthy, the post position gods were on his side as City of Light drew post 3 for the Pegasus World Cup. The speedy Patternrecognition was left to break from the outside with the short run to the first turn in the 1 1/8-mile race at Gulfstream Park.
City of Light was established the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Accelerate, who’ll open as the 9-5 favorite for the third running of the Pegasus World Cup. Accelerate will break from post 5 in the finale of an outstanding 12-race card that begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern and also includes the $7 million Pegasus Turf.
The 12-horse field in post order with the morning line and riders: Bravazo (12-1), Luis Saez; Something Awesome (20-1), Edgar Prado; City of Light (5-2), Javier Castellano; Seeking the Soul (12-1), John Velazquez; Accelerate (9-5), Joel Rosario; Tom’s d’Etat (20-1), Shaun Bridgmohan; True Timber (30-1), Joe Bravo; Gunnevera (8-1), Irad Ortiz Jr.; Kukulkan (30-1), Frankie Dettori; Audible (10-1), Flavien Prat; Imperative (30-1), Tyler Gaffalione; Patternrecognition (10-1), Jose Ortiz.
City of Light, the only horse to defeat Accelerate in 2018, has been idle since his wire-to-wire, 2 ½-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He has trained extremely well for the Pegasus, turning in his final work here Saturday, an easy half-mile in 47.26 with Castellano aboard.
“My blood pressure was rising, that’s for sure,” said McCarthy when asked how he felt right before the final two posts were drawn. “It would have been unfortunate had we drawn post 12. Obviously, drawing the three hole, we’re very happy with that. We’ll leave it up to Javier, but I imagine we would be forwardly placed. If not the predominant speed, we’ll be sitting right there. I was very happy with the way he got over the racetrack Saturday morning; I thought his work was dynamite. It’s been 11 weeks between races, but it seems like he’s holding his form. I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen so far.”
Like City of Light, Accelerate will make his final start in the Pegasus World Cup, and trainer John Sadler made no bones that he thinks Accelerate must beat City of Light to end his remarkable career on a positive note.
“I like our post,” said Sadler. “I wanted to be somewhere in the middle, and I also like tactically to be on the outside of City of Light. I hope we’ll be stalking him, they’ll hook up, and whoever is better will win.”
Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas trains Bravazo, and while normally drawing the rail would not please him, Lukas said it shouldn’t compromise Bravazo too much.
“What I always thought about the post position draw is that we take care of the things we can control and that’s one of the things we can’t, so I just leave it alone,” said Lukas. “Normally I wouldn’t like the rail – certainly not in races like the Derby or the Preakness. But he’s got good gate speed and here, with the short run to the turn, it’s not all that bad.”
Bravazo blew out three furlongs in 37.18 here immediately after the first renovation break on Tuesday, completing his final quarter in a swift 23.21 down the stretch.