Harlan's Holiday top three could be set for rematch in Pegasus World Cup

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Invitations will be released Wednesday for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and there is a chance the top three finishers from last Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday may not only be on that list but could meet again in the marquee race of the 2023-24 Championship meet on Jan. 27.

O’Connor rallied up the rail to narrowly defeat a dead-game Grand Aspen in the Harlan’s Holiday, with the early pacesetter, Ny Traffic, finishing less than a length farther back in third. The connections of all three horses said they will, in all likelihood, accept an invitation to the Pegasus World Cup if one is tendered Wednesday.

O’Connor has now put together back-to-back graded stakes wins for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who said the Chilean-bred is finally living up to expectations after disappointing as the favorite in the 2022 Harlan’s Holiday and again in the Pegasus World Cup last year. Joseph also said he wouldn’t hesitate to bring Ny Traffic back in the Pegasus, if a spot opened up for the veteran New York-bred off his performance here Saturday.

It was feast and famine for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Harlan’s Holiday, with Grand Aspen running the race of his life in his stakes debut while earning a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. Unfortunately, Gasoline, the more highly regarded of the Pletcher pair in the race, could not overcome early trouble and never factored, finishing eighth as the tepid 5-2 favorite.

“I was very pleased with Grand Aspen. He got a good trip and ran very well for his first time in a stakes,” Pletcher said. “He kind of put away those other two and looked like he was going to win before the winner [O’Connor] re-rallied on the rail. Gasoline didn’t get away real well, got jammed up, and shuffled back to last going to the first turn, which kind of took him out of his element.”

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Pletcher said while Gasoline has now been taken out of consideration for the Pegasus, he will run Grand Aspen if he is invited, with both Dynamic One and Crupi, a game winner of the Queens County on Sunday at Aqueduct, also being pointed to the race.

“Crupi is a horse we’ve always liked who has, like we expected, improved with age, as do a lot of the Curlins,” Pletcher acknowledged. “He’s won four of his last five and really started putting it all together now, although, obviously, he’ll have to make another move forward if he gets in the Pegasus.”

Pletcher also may have another future star in the barn in light of the performance by Born Noble earlier on Saturday’s card. The 2-year-old son of Constitution launched his career with an impressive 5 1/2-length victory for which he received a 93 Beyer, despite racing greenly through much of the stretch.

“He was training well. We were expecting a good debut,” Pletcher said. “I don’t know what was about that greenness in the stretch other than he seemed to be looking at the grandstand, which might be, in part, because he’s done all his training in Ocala and at Palm Beach Downs and had never seen a grandstand before. We have no plans for him at the moment, although he’s always given us the indication of being a two-turn horse.”

Lynch off to strong start

The opening month of the 2023-24 Championship meet is in the books, and among the prominent names high atop the trainer standings heading into the new year is Brian Lynch. Lynch’s seven victories put him in a dead heat for second with Mark Casse and Jose D’Angelo behind Joseph, the two-time defending meet champion, who has 11 victories.

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Lynch’s most recent winner came Sunday, when he sent out Stone Silent, one of the newer faces in his barn, to upset the $100,000 Abundantia Stakes. The speedy Stone Silent was turned over to Lynch after being purchased at the Keeneland horses of racing age sale in November. She showed a new dimension rallying from off the pace to a 1 3/4-length decision over local favorite Choose Joy in the five-furlong dash for fillies and mares on the turf.

“There’s nothing better than to come down here and have a great meet,” Lynch said when asked about his hot start. “We’re all trying to reach our goals and see how much prize money we can win before the end of the year. We’ve had a great year for our little stable. We’re thrilled about it and looking forward to next year.”

Two locally based horsemen, Ralph Nicks and Fernando Abreu, also are off to sizzling starts during the Championship meet, each with six victories during the month of December. Nicks’s wins came from just nine starters, and Abreu matched that mark running only 14 horses coming into the new year.

Lopez pulls even with Ortiz

Paco Lopez also has been on fire to start the meet and was the star of the show here Sunday, notching four victories to put himself in a dead heat atop the jockey standings with perennial leader Irad Ortiz Jr. Both riders have 28 victories.

Included in Lopez’s four-bagger on Sunday was a front-running tally aboard Sand and Sea in the $100,000 Key West, an overnight handicap for fillies and mares on the turf. The Indiana-bred, trained by Riley Mott, won for the second time at the session, having captured the Orange Blossom Stakes in similar gate-to-wire fashion on Dec. 3.

Lopez concluded his big day with a one-sided victory aboard the undefeated and very promising Florida-bred 2-year-old Hades, who dominated statebreds by eight lengths stretching out to seven furlongs for the first time for trainer Joe Orseno.

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