McPeek happy with maintenance breeze by Mystik Dan ahead of Pegasus
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Despite overnight rains throughout the South Florida area, four potential starters for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational worked locally on Saturday including Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan at Gulfstream Park and likely favorite Locked over his winter base at Palm Beach Downs.
Trainer Kenny McPeek delayed Mystik Dan’s scheduled work from 7:30 a.m. until after the second renovation break about 90 minutes later, while waiting for track conditions to improve at Gulfstream Park early Saturday. The track was upgraded from sealed and sloppy at dawn to “good” by the time Mystik Dan broke off for his work at the five-furlong pole under Robby Albarado, posting a 36.10 second three-furlong split before completing the five-furlong distance in 59.98 while set down for his best from the eighth pole to the wire. Mystik Dan proceeded to gallop-out six furlongs in 1:13.37 into the clubhouse turn.
“It’s what I’d call a happy five-eighths maintenance breeze,” McPeek said after the work. “I didn’t have a horse that I really felt good having him in company with and I didn’t really feel like he needed company. I liked the time and he was well within himself too. It sets us up well. As long as he has a good week, I plan on running.”
Mystik Dan will seek to rebound from a very disappointing sixth-place finish going seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 in his 3-year-old finale. The Malibu was his first start since checking home a distant eighth in the Belmont Stakes nearly seven months earlier.
Locked worked in company, per usual, with fellow Pegasus hopeful Crupi over a fast track at Palm Beach Downs, the pair going a half-mile in 49.33 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.91 and pulling up six furlongs in 1:15.52 per Daily Racing Form clocker Dave Norton. Locked was clearly the better of the pair for the majority of the work with both being urged along to finish.
Power Squeeze, the lone filly in the Pegasus lineup, also worked at Gulfstream on Saturday, going about an hour before Mystik Dan over a track labeled muddy at the time. She also went solo, breezing a very easy half-mile in 50.02, tugging her rider, wanting to do more to and through the wire, before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.91.
“It was a maintenance work, she went pretty nice, she seems to be in a good state of mind right now,” trainer Jorge Delgado offered. “We didn’t need to do much in this workout with everything we did last week, and with the [Rampart], she’s ready.”
Power Squeeze, winner of the Grade 1 Alabama last summer at Saratoga, finished second, beaten a neck by longshot Windy Walk but finished a head better than Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Soul of an Angel in the one-mile Rampart on Dec. 28.
“The Rampart was a good race for her even though we lost by a neck, it was good preparation for this race,” Delgado added.
A pair of horses also on the final invitation list for the Pegasus World Cup, Stronghold and Imagination, worked Saturday at Santa Anita. The former going five furlongs in 1:02.60, and six furlongs in 1:12.40 shortly after which his trainer, Bob Baffert, confirmed the runner-up in the 2024 Santa Anita Derby would not be entered when the race is drawn on Sunday.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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