Top four from Harlan's Holiday seek Pegasus World Cup berths
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Harlan’s Holiday Stakes did indeed serve its purpose as a prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, with the top four finishers all potential candidates for Gulfstream Park’s marquee event on Jan. 28.
Skippylongstocking won the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday by two widening lengths over a game Pioneer of Medina, with Simplification finishing third and O’Connor fourth as the 6-5 favorite. Skippylongstocking earned a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure for his performance in his 3-year-old finale.
“Hopefully, we’ll get invitations for both Skippylongstocking and O’Connor to the Pegasus, and if we do both will run,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. who also is pointing White Abarrio to the big event. “Skippy put in a very good performance on Saturday. I thought his race in the West Virginia Derby was very good, but he beat better horses this time and the race came back fast from a numbers standpoint. He’ll have to improve again if he runs in the Pegasus, but the mile and one-eighth should definitely benefit him.”
Joseph was extremely disappointed in O’Connor’s performance in the Harlan’s Holiday, even though the Chilean-bred received a 100 Beyer, a point higher than he’d earned winning an allowance race by six lengths in his U.S. debut.
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“If you look at the Beyer, you can say he ran his race, but I can’t buy that,” Joseph said. “Excuses get us nowhere, but he did come back with one shoe separated in half. He wears glue-on shoes, and I’d have preferred the shoe had come off completely rather than separated like that. It definitely might have compromised his chances a bit. Hopefully, he gets an invitation. I think he deserves a chance to run [in Pegasus World Cup], and the distance should really be beneficial to him. He’s all stamina.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Pioneer of Medina, who set the pace and then fought back to be second-best after being headed by Simplification at midstretch, is under consideration for Pegasus.
“We need to see who all is in there” before making a decision, Pletcher said.
Trainer Antonio Sano said he was very pleased with Simplification’s effort in the Harlan’s Holiday and that he hopes to move on to the Pegasus as well. Simplification, winner of the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March and the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, also was awarded a career-top Beyer, 103, for his 2022 finale.
Haskell winner and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Cyberknife, Grade 1 Awesome Again winner Defunded, and Proxy, who captured the Grade 1 Clark in his 2022 finale, are considered the leading candidates for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
Clement pair to Pegasus Turf
Trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday that both City Man and Decorated Invader, who finished one-two in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes, would likely move on to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 28.
The New York-bred City Man won his third race in a row on Saturday and the eighth stakes of his career.
“He had some very good races last year, and we just hope we can keep his form for one more race,” Clement said. “The idea is to run in the Pegasus then we’ll pull the plug, send him to Ocala, and give him a break.”
Decorated Invader had to overcome breaking from the extreme outside in post 12 to finish second in the Fort Lauderdale.
“I thought he ran very well because he had the terrible post,” Clement said. “It was very encouraging. Let’s not forget he was a very nice 2-year-old. It took me a while to get his form back, but I loved the race.”
Pletcher said Monday that Colonel Liam came back well from his disappointing sixth-place finish as the even-money favorite in the Fort Lauderdale and is expected to return later this month to try to win the nine-furlong Pegasus Turf for the third straight year.
Tapeta dash tops card
Racing returns Wednesday with a nine-race program topped by an $86,000 allowance and optional-claiming dash to be decided at five furlongs over the Tapeta course for 3-year-old fillies. The race lured a wide-open field of eight headed by Strokes, who exits a relatively well-graded second-place finish in a similarly conditioned allowance event going six furlongs over the synthetic track Dec. 23 at Woodbine. Strokes, a daughter of Caravaggio who began her career locally in July, has shown marked improvement since being equipped with blinkers by trainer Mark Casse prior to her maiden victory early last fall.
Other key contenders in the headliner include the Sano-trained pair of La Boiana and Defended, who was transferred to his barn following a second-place finish against statebreds for trainer Victor Barboza Jr. on Dec. 2, the undefeated Clay Soldier, and lightly raced Strike Jak.
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