How far should a hardcore racing fan need to travel to be up close and personal with a flesh-and-blood Kentucky Derby winner? For anyone lingering anywhere near Kentucky, the answer is “not far,” since 14 of the 20 living Derby winners reside at a variety of farms and retirement facilities within a short drive of downtown Lexington.

Those 14 include Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify at Ashford Stud, Funny Cide and Go for Gin at the Kentucky Horse Park, and Silver Charm and War Emblem at Old Friends Equine.

The Pegasus World Cup made me sad. It wasn’t the rain. Wet happens. It wasn’t the surface. We’ve all seen worse. And it wasn’t the looming night. Darkness only adds to the drama.

The Pegasus World Cup made me sad because saying goodbye to a horse like City of Light at this stage of his career is a crying shame.

I would like to believe that is exactly what little Stella McCarthy was feeling when she was captured in mid-sob by photographer Zoe Metz during an emotional farewell in the horse van alongside her dad, trainer Michael McCarthy.

Thoughts on Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream:

** I’m in complete agreement with the sentiment that it’s a shame City of Light is going off to stud now, at a point when he is only just beginning to realize his complete potential as a race horse. His near six-length romp in the Pegasus and his emphatic score in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile were dazzling performances – the best in a career that had several other high points.

The dark-haired woman in the long black dress stood in a bright light brandishing a whip, a leather muzzle, and soft-cloth restraints. Arrayed before her in the dimly lit ballroom, her audience braced for the strict punishments implied for careless disobedience. They mumbled in meek compliance and stared at the clock. Soon it would be their turn to obey.

Meet the new Pegasus, almost the same as the old Pegasus. The race is still at Gulfstream Park for a dozen runners going once around the mile and one-eighth main track. It’s got the obligatory superstar in a swan-song appearance before heading off to stud. There will be opportunities to party hearty, and NBC will be there to call the tune.

Do something well and do it long enough – say, 40 years or so – and someone’s bound to notice. Joe Harper, the wryly smiling face of Del Mar since 1978, finally gets to step out from behind all that distracting sunshine and sea air on Thursday night when he will become the 44th winner of the Eclipse Award of Merit.

Saturday’s running of the $9 million Pegasus World Cup will be only the third, but there is something that immediately distinguishes this edition from the first two: This will be the first Pegasus without a ton of filler in the starting gate.

The inaugural Pegasus in 2017, which was worth $12 million and won by Arrogate at 4-5, had a full field of 12. However, that field included horses who went off at odds of 188-1, 160-1, 138-1, 82-1, 74-1, and 49-1.

Southern Californians do not take rain as well as those living in the more naturally irrigated parts of the country. They tend to panic, spin their tires, and wail to the heavens, “Why are the angels weeping so?”

Horse racing suffers accordingly, as the cancellation of the Thursday program at Santa Anita illustrates. And because there will be more rain coming soon, based upon always reliable weather reports, the Southern California racing community will need to brace for a winter of damp discontent.

Google the name “Michael Abraham” and you are likely to come up with:

Michael Abraham, Chicago area architect, who designs “high-end residential spaces that look to the past but are decidedly contemporary.” At least, that’s what the brochure says.

Then there is Michael Abraham – Dr. Abraham to you – an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he specializes in procedures like aneurysm coiling, intra-arterial stroke treatment, and tumor embolization. Yeah, he’s a brain surgeon.

Maybe it’s just me, but U.S. racing feels like it’s almost on hold until the resolution of the Horse of the Year debate between Justify and Accelerate at the Eclipse Awards dinner on Jan. 24.