Gun Runner draws post 10, favored at 4-5 in Pegasus
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Steve Asmussen has done all he can to get Gun Runner ready for the $16 million Pegasus World Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. That’s in his control. What he couldn’t control was the draw for the race Wednesday, and it made him anxious, what with 12 horses drawing for a 1 1/8-mile race that has an abrupt run before they all turn left.
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“I’m taking a rabbit’s foot with me,” he said Wednesday morning.
Just before the draw began, co-host Acacia Courtney asked the audience if they were excited.
“More like nervous,” Asmussen, sitting at a table in a newly constructed pavilion, said softly.
Then the draw started. The three runners adjudged to be the biggest threats to Gun Runner – Sharp Azteca, West Coast, and Collected – all drew favorable posts, stalls 4, 2, and 5.
“We’re running out of good spots,” Asmussen said.
After nine numbers were drawn, only posts 1, 10, and 11 remained. Finally, Gun Runner’s name was called, assigned to post 10.
“Wouldn’t have been my choice,” Asmussen said.
So, for the final start of his career, Gun Runner will have to overcome a wide draw and three top rivals who ended up far better positioned. But Gun Runner turned back Collected and West Coast in his last start, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Sharp Azteca, the Cigar Mile winner and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, is heading into uncharted territory going nine furlongs.
Plus, as Asmussen cracked, “We drew better than we did last year.”
Gun Runner was not permitted by Gulfstream Park to run in the inaugural Pegasus last year because Gun Runner was stabled at Fair Grounds, where there had been an equine herpesvirus outbreak.
Gun Runner was installed as the 4-5 favorite on the morning line of Gulfstream Park’s Jay Stone, who has Sharp Azteca at 6-1 and both Collected and West Coast – both trained by Bob Baffert – at 8-1.
Arrogate, trained by Baffert, won the inaugural Pegasus after breaking from the rail. California Chrome, marooned on the far outside in post 12, was caught wide on the first turn and finished ninth in the final start of his career. Gun Runner, like California Chrome, is heading to stud immediately after this race.
There is a 60-foot run-up at Gulfstream Park for 1 1/8-mile races, meaning the gate is positioned 20 yards behind the timing beam. Tim Ritvo, president of Gulfstream Park, said on a teleconference Monday that he was considering moving the gate back and extending the run-up for the Pegasus. But on Wednesday, Ritvo said he had decided to leave the gate where it has been all meet for 1 1/8-mile races.
“We might do something next year at the start of the meet, but we didn’t think it was right to change in the middle of the meet,” Ritvo said.
In addition to the 12 in the main body of the race, there are two also-eligibles in case of late scratches, with Giuseppe the Great and Game Over next in line, in that order.
The Pegasus goes as the last of 12 races Saturday. It will be televised live by NBC from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Eastern. Gulfstream is putting on a blockbuster card, with seven stakes preceding the Pegasus. First post is 11:30 a.m. Gates open at 9 a.m.
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Odds |
| 1 | Singing Bullet | R. Albarado | 30-1 |
| 2 | West Coast | J. Castellano | 8-1 |
| 3 | Stellar Wind | J. Rosario | 30-1 |
| 4 | Sharp Azteca | I. Ortiz, Jr. | 6-1 |
| 5 | Collected | M. Smith | 8-1 |
| 6 | Gunnevera | L. Saez | 15-1 |
| 7 | Fear The Cowboy | T. Gaffalione | 30-1 |
| 8 | War Story | J. Ortiz | 25-1 |
| 9 | Toast of New York | L. Dettori | 20-1 |
| 10 | Gun Runner | F. Geroux | 4-5 |
| 11 | Seeking The Soul | J. Velazquez | 25-1 |
| 12 | Giant Expectations | G. Stevens | 30-1 |
| AE | Giuseppe The Great | ||
| AE | Game Over |
