Deal reached to run Breaking Lucky in Pegasus World Cup

Breaking Lucky, a 5-year-old colt who was most recently second in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, will be pointed to the $12 million Pegasus World Cup as the result of a deal reached between Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and the colt’s owner, Gunpowder Farms, according to an announcement by the groups.

Breaking Lucky becomes the ninth horse to be named as a potential starter in the Pegasus, which is scheduled for Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Earlier this year, 12 starting slots in the race were sold for $1 million each, with each slot owner responsible for finding a horse to fill the spot.

Dean Reeves, the owner of Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and the initial buyer of a Pegasus slot, said that the deal to run Breaking Lucky was reached Monday night, and that, subsequent to the deal being reached, he bought into the horse along with West Point Thoroughbreds, the racing partnership run by Terry Finley.

“We had been looking for a dirt and distance horse for a while,” Reeves said. “We feel like there’s a lot of opportunity out there.”

Reeves said that Gunpowder Farms, which is owned by Tom Keithley, did not pay any money to secure the starting slot, and that the deal is structured so that the owners of Breaking Lucky – including new owners Reeves and West Point – will receive a certain percentage of any purse earned in the race. The first-place purse in the Pegasus is $7 million, with second worth $1.75 million and third worth $1 million. All other finishers will receive $250,000.

Reeves also said that he sold shares in his starting slot earlier this year to Eric Young, his partner in a general-contracting company based in Atlanta, and Randy Hill, the owner of RA Hill Racing and a friend of Reeves. As a result, two groups will receive shares of the Pegasus proceeds – the Breaking Lucky owners, and the owners of the shares in the slot. In addition to any purse proceeds, owners of the slots are entitled to a certain share of the revenues from the race, but those revenues are not expected to top $200,000 per share, at best.

Breaking Lucky has three wins in his career: a maiden win in his first start in March 2015, a win in the 2015 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in 2015, and a win in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 1, 2016. He finished fourth at 50-1 in last year’s Woodward, approximately a neck behind the winner, Shaman Ghost, who is also being pointed to the Pegasus. Shaman Ghost is owned by Frank Stronach, the owner of Gulfstream and the conceptual father of the Pegasus World Cup.

The one-two finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Arrogate and California Chrome, are both pointing to the Pegasus, and the two horses will be the favorites if they make the starting gate.

A previous version of this article misstated Breaking Lucky's margin of defeat in the Woodward Stakes. It was approximately a neck, not eight lenghts.