Art Collector | Horse Racing Free Tips

Art Collector in Fine Shape After Pegasus Win

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) exited his win in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational in fine shape, according to trainer Bill Mott.

“He's happy. He was bright and alert and seemed to be feeling pretty good about himself,” Mott reported from Payson Park Sunday morning.

Art Collector, winner of the 2021 GI Woodward S., had been a solid stakes performer before his emphatic 4 1/2-length victory in the Pegasus Saturday.

“It's strange. I knew he was doing well going into the race. I felt like he was training well, but you can't really predict the outcome in a race like that,” Mott said. “There's some nice horses in there and you don't know much about the rest of them. I knew our horse was doing well. Did he exceed expectations? I wouldn't say that because I didn't know what to expect.”

Plans for the 6-year-old remain up in the air.

“Anytime you've got a well-bred horse that's a Grade I-stakes winner, I think going to stud is always an option, and it's just a matter of timing when you do it. I can't say what was going on in [Lunsford's] head. I don't think that was the first thing that was on his mind though,” Mott said. “I think Bruce kind of entered the new year thinking he enjoys seeing him on the racetrack and I think he was prepared to continue on that route for the rest of the year if things got going well.”

Trainer Mike Maker reported Sunday that Three Diamonds Farm's Atone (Into Mischief) was also doing well following his breakthrough victory in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational.

“He came out of it in good order,” Maker said. “It's impossible not to be impressed by the way he ran.”

Maker mentioned the Mar. 25 GII Muniz Memorial Classic at Fair Grounds and May 6 GI Turf Classic at Churchill Downs as possible upcoming targets for Atone.

Atone capped a huge day at Gulfstream for Maker, who also ran sixth in the Pegasus Turf with 74-1 long shot King Cause (Creative Cause). Earlier in the day, Maker won the GIII Fred W. Hooper with Endorsed (Medaglia d'Oro) and finished first, second, third and fifth in the GIII William L. McKnight led by winner Red Knight (Pure Prize).

On the day, Maker had three wins, one second and two thirds and earned $846,300 in purses. Prior to that he had a record of 29-4-3-4 with $154,615 in purses earned at the Championship Meet, which opened Dec. 26.

“It was a great day,” Maker said. “We were kind of in a slump there and to break out of it in that fashion felt great.”

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Art Collector Draws The Upset In Pegasus World Cup

Bruce Lunsford homebred Art Collector (Bernardini) sat the trip beneath Junior Alvarado and sprung a 15-1 upset in Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream.

California invader Defunded (Dialed In), winner of last fall's GI Awesome Again S. and off as the 5-2 second choice, was 4 1/2 lengths back in second. Pacesetter Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) stayed on for third, the same position he filled in last year's renewal.

Alvarado, who rode the Bill Mott-trained Olympiad (Speightstown) to four graded-stakes victories and a runner-up finish behind Flightline (Tapit) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic last year, was riding Art Collector for the first time in the Pegasus.

“We scripted it that way and it turned out that way,” Mott said. “That doesn't happen very often, but [jockey] Junior [Alvarado] rode him and did a great job. I told him just ride him like you ride Olympiad, and he rode him the same way.”

Mott continued, “He's done that before. These kinds of races, you just have to wait and see. These are competitive races. You get the horse as good as you can and hope the horse shows up.”

Art Collector raced in fourth around the clubhouse turn as Stilleto Boy narrowly led Defunded through an opening quarter in :23.61. Cruising along nicely in an outside third, Art Collector set his sights on the top two while three wide on the far turn, struck the front less than a quarter of a mile from home and put the race to bed from there to win going away.

Art Collector, winner of the 2021 GI Woodward S. at Belmont, followed a sixth-place finish in that term's GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a 12th-place finish in the G1 Saudi Cup. He got back on track with a wire-to-wire win in Saratoga's Alydar S. Aug. 4 and successfully defended his title in the GII Charles Town Classic S. Aug. 26. The bay concluded his 5-year-old campaign with a fifth-place finish in the GII Lukas Classic Oct. 1.

“Originally, we were thinking of going to the Cigar Mile with him, and October, end of October, he had a foot abscess,” Mott said. “So we had to scrap all our plans. I told Bruce, I said, well, we're going to miss that. Let's go to Florida.”

“[Trainer] Bill [Mott] and I have had a long-term relationship, back with Vision and Verse,” Lunsford said. “We talked about it, and I give Bill credit for this, he said we're going to try something different. Let's lay him off. And he just kept getting better and better.”

Favored MGISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner), a painful second in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland in November, failed to duplicate his sire's heroics from the same wide draw in post 10 and was a disappointing sixth. Cyberknife is scheduled to begin his career at stud for a fee of $30,000 this upcoming breeding season at Spendthrift Farm.

“He didn't look like he fired to me,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He had a little bit of a wide trip and at the three-eighths pole I could kind of tell he wasn't traveling. He broke well but they got away from him. It reminded me a little bit of the race at Parx when he ran third there. It wasn't to be. It didn't work out.”

Pedigree Notes:

Art Collector's second dam Bunting was bred by and began her career racing for Mrs. John Hay Whitney's Greentree Stables, finishing runner-up to Inside Information (Private Account) in the 1994 GI Ashland S. and the GI Black-Eyed Susan S. before she was purchased by Seth Hancock, on behalf of Bruce Lunsford and Lanny Holbrook, for $500,000 at that year's Keeneland November Sale. She was victorious in one of three subsequent appearances for Bill Mott before being retired and covered by Storm Cat.

Bunting was an immediate hit at stud, as her first foal became Vision and Verse, winner of the 1999 GII Illinois Derby and second to Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo) in the GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. Bunting's next foal of import was her filly of 2003, Performing Diva (Storm Cat), second in the 2005 GII Darley Alcibiades S., and four years later, Bunting produced a filly by Distorted Humor. The versatile Distorted Legacy won the Sky Beauty S. on the dirt and was second in the GI Flower Bowl Invitational S. on the grass ahead of a close fourth in that year's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Distorted Legacy is the dam of three winners from four to race, including the Bill Mott-trained Classic Legacy (Into Mischief), a juvenile maiden winner at Aqueduct Dec. 3 with Junior Alvarado at the controls. She is also responsible for the 2-year-old filly Kingdom Come (Justify), a yearling filly by Medaglia d'Oro and was most recently covered by Gun Runner.

Art Collector, one of 16 worldwide Grade I/Group 1 winners for his late sire, is set to enter stud at Claiborne Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY
BACCARAT-GI, $2,944,000, Gulfstream, 1-28, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m,
1:49.44, ft.
1–ART COLLECTOR, 123, h, 6, by Bernardini
                1st Dam: Distorted Legacy (SW & GISP, $421,466), by
                                Distorted Humor
                2nd Dam: Bunting, by Private Account
                3rd Dam: Flag Waver, by Hoist the Flag
O/B-Bruce Lunsford (KY); T-William I. Mott;
J-Junior Alvarado. $1,680,000. Lifetime Record: 21-11-1-0,
$4,012,490. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ ***Triple Plus***
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free
   Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Defunded, 123, g, 5, Dialed In–Wind Caper, by Touch Gold.
($210,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson
& Paul Weitman; B-Athens Woods LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert.
$560,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 123, g, 5, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by
Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger;
B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $280,000.
Margins: 4HF, 1 1/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 15.50, 2.90, 45.50.
Also Ran: Last Samurai, Proxy, Cyberknife, Skippylongstocking,
White Abarrio, Get Her Number, Simplification, O'Connor (Chi),
Ridin With Biden. Scratched: Endorsed, Hoist the Gold.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO,
sponsored by TVG.

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Pegasus World Cup Hopefuls Tune Up

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) tuned up for the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational with a five-furlong drill in 1:01.60 (1/5) at Payson Park Sunday.

“He went very well this morning,” said trainer Bill Mott. “I was happy with him. He galloped out well and cooled out. It's looking like he's coming into the race well.”

Art Collector, winner of the 2021 GI Woodward S. and two-time winner of the GII Charles Town Classic, has been off since finishing fifth in the Oct. 1 GII Lukas Classic. He was originally being considered for the Dec. 3 GI Cigar Mile at Aqueduct and the Dec. 31 GIII Harlan's Holiday S. at Gulfstream, the local prep for the Pegasus.

“We were thinking of the Cigar Mile, but we lost some time with him due to a foot abscess,” Mott said. “Then we considered the Harlan's Holiday, but we felt we just needed more time.”

Jet Set Racing Stable's Super Corinto (Arg) (Super Saver) breezed a half-mile in :49.03 (4/58) at Gulfstream Park Sunday morning in preparation for a start in the Pegasus World Cup.

The work was the fifth in a series of works since the 5-year-old captured a Dec. 8 optional-claiming allowance at Gulfstream. He was a Group 1 winner in Chile before being sent to trainer Amador Sanchez, for whom he finished second behind Chilean Group 1 winner O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) in his U.S. debut Nov. 12.

Both South American imports, who took turns beating each other in Group 1 races before heading to the U.S., are among the 12 horses invited to the Pegasus World Cup.

Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}) turned in his penultimate work for the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational with a five-furlong work in 1:02.00 (2/15) at the Thoroughbred Training Center Saturday.

“Ivar is ready,” said trainer Paulo Lobo. “His work [Saturday] was very good, in company nice and easy, like he likes to do. His final work will be next Saturday here, and then we're going to ship him either that Monday or Tuesday.”

Third in the 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Mile, Ivar was second in last year's GI Woodbine Mile and GI Coolmore Turf Mile before ending the year with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland in his most recent start.

“I think his race was very good,” Lobo said of the 2022 Breeders' Cup Mile won by European standout Modern Games. “He lost to a very top horse. Javier Castellano was riding him for the first time. He rode a very good race, and since then we've pointed for the Pegasus Turf and we've never missed a day and never had a bad day. Everything that we planned is happening, no problems.”

Lobo said Justify My Love (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}), like Ivar owned by Bonne Chance Farm LLC and breeder Stud RDI LLC, will compete in the GI Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational on the Jan. 28 undercard.

Justify My Love was a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed in Argentina before being sent to Lobo last year. Off a nine-month layoff, she was sixth in her first two starts before capturing a Churchill Downs' turf allowance race Nov. 19 in her most recent start.

“She's a very nice filly,” Lobo said. “It took a little while for her to adjust here, but she had a very nice win at Churchill Downs. She's in top form now, physically and mentally. I think she'll run well over there. The race is very tough, but I think she's going to enjoy a mile and an eighth. She's training super, this filly. Super.”

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GISW Art Collector to Claiborne Upon Retirement

Bruce Lunsford's homebred GI Woodward S. winner Art Collector (Bernardini–Distorted Legacy, by Distorted Humor) will stand at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Ky. upon retirement, the farm announced Wednesday.

Winner of the Woodward in 2021 over Maxfield (Street Sense), Art Collector notched a 107 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort. It was one of seven triple-digit Beyer figures he received in a career that has thus far recorded a tally of 20-10-1-0 and earnings of $2,332,490.

“We are thrilled to stand another exciting stallion prospect for longtime client Bruce Lunsford,” said Claiborne's Walker Hancock. “Art Collector has the qualities we look for in a stallion and we believe he will be very well received among breeders upon his retirement from racing.”

Art Collector began his career in the barn of Thomas Drury, Jr., for whom he raced at two and three and won both the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and Runhappy Ellis Park Derby. He moved into the barn of Hall of Famer Bill Mott for his four- and five-year-old campaigns, where his victories included the Woodward and back-to-back scores in both the GII Charles Town Classic S. and Saratoga's Alydar S.

A fee for Art Collector will be announced upon retirement.

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