Noble Bird, Prayer for Relief fill out prospective field for Pegasus World Cup

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – And then there were none.

The final spots in the prospective lineup for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup here Jan. 28 were filled Monday when deals were finalized to bring Grade 1 winner Noble Bird and the 9-year-old Prayer for Relief into the race.

With only one week left before entries are drawn for the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup, the world’s richest race, the field of 12 is now expected to comprise California Chrome, Arrogate, Keen Ice, Neolithic, Shaman Ghost, Eragon, War Story, War Envoy, Breaking Lucky, Ralis, Noble Bird, and Prayer for Relief.

Noble Bird has not started since breaking slowly and finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25. Trainer Mark Casse said he and owner John Oxley had been in negotiations with several of the slot holders for the race before consummating a deal with Earle Mack on Monday.

“He’s been training so well, we’ve recently started thinking about running him in the Pegasus,” said Casse. “We’re really excited about the prospects of participating in this event, as anyone would be who is involved in a new, innovate project like this one.”

Prayer for Relief has earned more than $2 million in his career but is winless since December 2013, a streak that covers 20 starts, six of which came in Dubai. In 2015, Prayer for Relief ran fourth in the Grade 1 Donn and third in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope here.

Prayer for Relief turned in a stellar work here Saturday, going five furlongs in 59.12 before galloping out with terrific energy into and around the turn.

“There are two horses in the race that stand out, and then there are the rest of them,” said Prayer for Relief’s trainer, Dale Romans. “He worked great here Saturday, and if we can get him back to his old form, you never know. You can see how sound he is, how happy he is, how fresh he is. He ran a couple of beautiful races here [in 2015], then he went to Dubai, where he never really settled in. But he’s doing great now over a track he really likes.”

Several other locally based Pegasus hopefuls worked over the weekend, including the Todd Pletcher-trained pair of Keen Ice and Neolithic, both of whom went five furlongs in 1:00.80 in separate sets Saturday at Palm Beach Downs; Shaman Ghost, five-eighths in 1:01.80 on Saturday at Palm Meadows; and War Story, six furlongs in 1:12.40 on Sunday at Gulfstream Park West.