Connect a candidate for Pegasus World Cup after winning Cigar Mile

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Connect and Divining Rod, separated by a short head in Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, could possibly see each other again next spring in a race like the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap but will part company for the immediate future.

Both horses are expected to be based in Florida for the winter, with Connect, who outfinished Divining Rod in a sensational stretch battle, heading to the Palm Meadows training center, where trainer Chad Brown keeps the bulk of his winter stable, and Divining Rod off to Tampa Bay Downs, where trainer Arnaud Delacour will be based.

Connect, who improved his record to 6 for 8 in the Cigar Mile, will remain in training while his connections explore the possibility of running in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup, a newly created 1 1/8-mile race at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28.

The Pegasus purse is funded by 12 owners who have already put up $1 million each to secure a starting slot in the race. Many of those slot holders don’t have a suitable horse, so deals must be made with owners of prospective starters who don’t have a slot in the race.

“I’m going to evaluate the horse and his prospects in a race like that while keeping him going,” Brown, who trains Connect for Paul Pompa Jr., said Sunday at Belmont. “If, for some reason, that race doesn’t look like something we’re going to participate in, we’ll back off.”

Since Connect is the type of horse who runs best with ample time between races, Brown said he would not start again before the Pegasus if that race does indeed become his next target.

Connect is a two-time winner at 1 1/8 miles, including a victory in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, and showed his versatility by cutting back to win a prestigious one-turn-mile race on Saturday. Brown said the Met Mile on June 10 is “absolutely” a race he would like to have Connect ready for in the first half of 2017.

Brown said Connect appeared to be good Sunday morning and would likely leave for south Florida next week.

Connect earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.

Brown ran two other horses in the Cigar Mile. Threefiveindia finished sixth after prompting the pace, while Economic Model did no running and finished eighth of 10. Brown said Threefiveindia might cut back to seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, while Economic Model would get a break.

Divining Rod returned to Fair Hill, a training center in North East, Md., Saturday night and appeared to come out of the race well, Delacour said Sunday morning.

Delacour said he would talk with owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson about future plans, but he didn’t think the Pegasus would be among them.

“As far as I’m concerned, the mile and an eighth is a touch too long,” Delacour said.

Delacour said a race that might better suit Divining Rod is the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 20. That race is run at 1 1/16 miles. As a 3-year-old, Divining Rod won the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland at that distance.

Delacour also mentioned a race like the Godolphin Mile in Dubai in late March as a possible early-season target in 2017.

Divining Rod will ship to Tampa Bay Downs by next weekend, Delacour said.

Realm, third in the Cigar Mile, will ship to south Florida on Tuesday, will be based at Palm Meadows, and will get a break after running twice in three weeks and eight times as a 3-year-old, according to trainer Barclay Tagg.