Louisville influence on Pegasus World Cup runs deep

The Pegasus World Cup is a world-class event, but one wouldn’t have had to look much farther than the blue-collar neighborhoods surrounding Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., to find the principal players in this fifth running of the $3 million race Saturday.

Three trainers with Pegasus contenders – Brad Cox with Knicks Go, Danny Gargan with Tax, and Dale Romans with Coastal Defense and Mr Freeze – all grew up within a short drive of Churchill. All were obsessed with the track, leaving little time for their school studies.

“I think if you added up all of our GPAs,” joked Romans, “you still wouldn’t have gotten a 4.0.”

Knicks Go, a last-out winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, while Tax is the 5-1 third choice. Both of their trainers are very high on their chances.

Coastal Defense and Mr Freeze, both pegged at 15-1, “are really doing great,” said Romans.

“We’re in there with a couple of solid upset possibilities,” he said.