Saudi Cup likely next for Mucho Gusto

ARCADIA, Calif. – Before Saturday’s Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, Mucho Gusto had won four Grade 3 races since November 2018 and finished second or third in three Grade 1 races in 10 starts at 2 and 3.

As a 4-year-old, Mucho Gusto is a different runner. The colt ran the best race of his career to win the $3 million Pegasus World Cup, a victory likely to lead to a start in the $20 million Saudi Cup at 1 1/8 miles at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 29, trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday.

Baffert, who watched the Pegasus World Cup from his Southern California base, was left impressed by Mucho Gusto’s performance. Ridden for the first time by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Mucho Gusto closed from fourth in a field of 10 to win the race at 1 1/8 miles by a convincing 4 1/2 lengths as the 3-1 second choice.

“We went there trying to get part of it and we got all of it,” Baffert said.

The winner’s share of the Pegasus World Cup was $1.8 million. Mucho Gusto had earned $779,800 prior to Saturday.

The list of contenders for the Pegasus World Cup changed drastically through the week when Omaha Beach, the winner of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, and Spun to Run, the winner of the BC Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, were withdrawn because of injury and illness.

Their absences lifted Mucho Gusto’s profile for his first start since a disappointing fourth in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park on Sept. 29, the colt’s third consecutive trip outside of California.

“It was one trip too many,” Baffert said. “He was flat.”

Owned by Prince Faisal bin Khaled of Saudi Arabia, Mucho Gusto had worked well through the middle of January, justifying the trip to the Pegasus World Cup.

“The little break helped him,” Baffert said of the brief layoff. “We knew he’d be right there.”

This is the first year of the Saudi Cup. Baffert also plans to send McKinzie, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

California-based runners finished first and last in the Pegasus World Cup. Higher Power, the winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar last August and the third-place finisher in the BC Classic, finished last in the Pegasus World Cup as the 5-2 favorite.

Ridden by Flavien Prat, Higher Power was as close as third on the turn, but faded quickly in early stretch.

“Prat said he had good position and he had to ride to get there,” trainer John Sadler said at Santa Anita on Sunday morning. “When he asked me, he wasn’t there for him.”