Pegasus World Cup: National Treasure shows heart to survive taxing pace battle

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - National Treasure, who showed flashes of brilliance at times during his 3-year-old campaign, served notice he could be on to even bigger and better things in 2024 by holding off the late-running Senor Buscador to register a neck victory in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park.

National Treasure won the Preakness in similarly game fashion last spring, then after three disappointing performances saved his best for last. He set a lively pace and then battled recently elected Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish the length of the stretch before dropping a heartbreaking nose decision in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

National Treasure, with Flavien Prat aboard, wasted little time going right after pacesetter Hoist the Gold, the pair quickly separating themselves from their 10 rivals while battling through early splits of 23.18 seconds and 46.32 for the opening half-mile of the nine-furlong Pegasus. National Treasure continued to stalk the leader under confident handling, then readily overtook Hoist the Gold leaving the final turn.

He quickly opened a seemingly comfortable advantage upon settling into the stretch and held safe Senor Buscador while kept under vigorous urging to the end.

As expected, Senor Buscador, second best behind Hoist the Gold over a speed-favoring track in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile to close out his 2023 campaign, dropped to the rear of the field through the early going. Roused leaving the backstretch by jockey Junior Alvarado, Senor Buscador advanced to closer contention around the second turn before angling out towards the middle of the track to continue his run upon settling into the stretch. He was gradually gaining on the winner at the end.

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Crupi, last of all in the run down the backstretch, rallied belatedly to finish a distant third, 4 1/2 lengths behind Senor Buscador. First Mission, a close second choice in the wagering behind the winner, was the biggest disappointment in the race, throwing in the towel after six furlongs and checking in a well-beaten ninth. Skippylongstocking was eased after six furlongs and vanned off.

National Treasure, a son of Quality Road trained by Bob Baffert, covered the distance in 1:50.51 over a fast track and paid $7.20 as a tepid favorite. He was given a 105 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I’m proud of him,” Baffert said by phone from California minutes after the race. “He ran his race. He showed up. That’s all you can ask for as a trainer. He was prepping well for it. I always thought he was that good a horse. He was very immature, but he’s getting better and better.”

Baffert said National Treasure couldn’t have trained any better prior to shipping from his Santa Anita base to South Florida for the Pegasus World Cup.

“He was training much better than he was going into the Breeders’ Cup, we felt good about him,” Baffert said. “But you still need a lot of luck. You have to ship well, you have to break well. I knew it would be a hot pace but you can’t take his speed away. You can’t be worried about one horse.

“I told Flavien to let him do his thing, he did, and that’s why he won. I knew they were flying but when I saw 23 and change I thought it was manageable. Good horses, they keep running. And he was really ready.”

Baffert said he wasn’t too concerned in the final sixteenth even with Senor Buscador bearing down on National Treasure approaching the wire.

“He was looking around there, I don’t think he was getting tired,” said Baffert. “He’s a fighter. You remember when that horse came to him in the Preakness, he wouldn’t let him by. And when Cody came to him in the Breeders’ Cup he did the same thing. After the race he kept going with him. He just got beat that day by a really good horse.”

Baffert said he will “get him home and talk to the gang” before deciding what might be next on the schedule for National Treasure.

Alvarado said he was excited about the way Senor Buscador performed, even in defeat.

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“It’s very hard to come from way back on this track,” said Alvarado. “But I was happy when he was picking it up. I could feel the last sixteenth of a mile he was getting tired from making that huge run from the back.

“He ran his eyeballs out. He gave me a helluva run. He gave me everything he had today. He ran his heart out.”

Brad Cox, who trains First Mission, said he thought his horse just didn’t handle the track

“A lot of dirt hitting him in the face, he didn’t seem like he wanted to go forward throughout,” Cox said. “Luis [Saez] said at the half-mile pole he didn’t move forward when asked.”

* Total handle for the outstanding, 13-race Pegasus program was $47.32 million. That was up 7.8 percent over the $43.88 million wagered on the 2023 Pegasus card.

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