King for a Day upsets Maximum Security in Pegasus

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The Pegasus Stakes may not have been as dramatic as the Kentucky Derby, but once Maximum Security stumbled at the start of the 1 1/16-mile event, one could sense the race was not going to be as easy as the odds suggested.

Maximum Security was sent off at 1-20 in the six-horse Pegasus and had $192,000 of the $237,000 place pool riding on him. He recovered quickly after stumbling and popped to the lead but he was joined from the outside by King for a Day and three wide by Identifier.

Maximum Security, with Luis Saez up, set fractions of 23.58 and 46.82 seconds while being pressed from the outside by King for a Day and jockey Joe Bravo. Identifier began to drop back midway on the backstretch and the Pegasus turned into a match race from there with both Saez and Bravo asking their mounts on the turn and into the stretch.

In upper stretch, Maximum Security began to inch away from King for a Day but he could not sustain the move and King for a Day wore him down and took the lead at the sixteenth pole, edging away to a length victory.

King for a Day paid $13.80 as the second betting choice. He was timed in 1:42.59 after interior fractions of 23.58, 46.82, 1:10.57, and 1:35.98.

Jason Servis, the trainer of Maximum Security, thought his colt’s stumble may have been the deciding factor in the race.

“I think the stumble cost me the race, really,” Servis said.

Todd Pletcher, who trains King for a Day, said by phone after the race that “We didn’t want Maximum Security to get away from us but I didn’t think we were as quick as him.”

The stumble may have helped even things up.

Saez said Maximum Security got antsy prior to the start.

“He hasn’t run for a while so he was a little desperate in the gate,” he said. “He wanted to break, and he broke so fast he stumbled.”

This has been a difficult week for Servis, who debated long and hard whether to start Maximum Security in the Pegasus. A week before the race, Servis said he was not 100 percent pleased with the colt’s condition. He had bloodwork done but the results came back satisfactory.

Servis monitored Maximum Security’s condition closely in the days before the Pegasus. After training him Thursday, he decided to enter.

“It was a tough week,” Servis said. “He was feeling good this morning. I sent him out and he was jumping and kicking.

“I think his next race will be better. I needed to get this out of the way.”

The Pegasus is the first time Maximum Security has been beaten on the track by another horse. He won his first four career starts, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby. He crossed the wire first in the Kentucky Derby but after a torturous 22-minute stewards’ review was disqualified and placed 17th from veering out on the far turn.

Maximum Security will most likely make his next start in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on July 20.

Bravo, pumped up after the race said, “This is my yard, what do you expect?”

“I thought I had him pretty much turning for home, but then he got away from us a little and we had to go and get him.”

King for a Day, a son of Uncle Mo who was bred and is owned by the Red Oak Stable of the Brunetti family, made three starts at 2 for Pletcher, winning a Belmont Park maiden race and finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs.

He is now 2 for 2 as a 3-year-old. In his start prior to the Pegasus he won the restricted Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard.

“We’ve always liked him since Rick Sacco [the Red Oak Stable racing and operations manager] sent him to us, and now he’s living up to expectations,” Pletcher said. “I was thrilled with his performance today and very happy for the Brunetti family and thank the owners for their patience.”

Pletcher said he ran King for a Day in the Pegasus because the colt was doing so well.

"We weren’t positive what the game plan would be after the Sir Barton,” Pletcher said. “We were thinking about the Indiana Derby [on July 13], but I called Rick and said ‘I don’t know if I can keep him on the ground that long,’ so we came here.”

Pletcher was noncommittal about a next race. He said King for a Day would be sent to Saratoga in the next few days and that “We’ll talk to the guys and come up with a plan.”