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Santa Anita Trio Finishes Preparations For Pegasus World Cup Day Turf Races

Three Santa Anita-based horses finished final preparations for a pair of graded stakes to be run this Saturday on Pegasus World Cup Day at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Trainer Dan Blacker's Hit the Road drilled five furlongs on turf prior to Sunday's Santa Anita races, as did the Richard Baltas-trained Bob and Jackie, both in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, while the Baltas-trained Bodhiccta went the same distance while readying for Gulfstream's G3, $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf.

All three came onto Santa Anita's one-mile main track via the quarter mile chute at about 11:45 a.m. and worked separately over the turf oval.

The G1 stakes-winning Hit the Road drilled five furlongs under assistant trainer and regular exercise rider Juan Landeros in 1:01.42 in what appeared to be a maintenance move. In his penultimate Pegasus work last Sunday, the 5-year-old horse by More Than Ready smoked five furlongs on turf in in 58.42.

Bob and Jackie, a winner of the G3 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, was the first horse on the turf and he went three furlongs in 35.80 en route to a final clocking of 59.77 under Jose Valdivia, Jr.

A 6-year-old horse by Twirling Candy, Bob and Jackie, a four-time stakes winner, will be looking for his second graded stakes win.

Bodhicitta, a 6-year-old English-bred mare, broke off about three furlongs behind her stablemate and worked five furlongs in preparation for the G3, $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf with Umberto Rispoli up in 59.61.

The G1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational heads a total of seven graded stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and will feature a showdown between presumptive Horse of the Year Knicks Go and recent G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good.

Santa Anita will offer three graded stakes on Saturday, the G2, $200,000 San Vicente, the G3, $200,000 Palos Verdes and the G3, $100,000 Megahertz.

First post time on Saturday at Santa Anita will be at 12:30 p.m. PT. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Hit The Road, Bodhicitta Prep At Santa Anita For Pegasus World Cup Day Races

Trainer Dan Blacker's Grade 1 stakes winning Hit the Road and the Richard Baltas-conditioned Bodhicitta, a Grade 2 winner, both worked over the Santa Anita turf late Sunday morning in preparation for major stakes engagements at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Pegasus World Cup Invitational Day, Jan. 29.

Hit the Road, a 5-year-old horse by More Than Ready, and Bodhicitta, a 6-year-old English-bred mare, came on Santa Anita's main track via the quarter mile chute at 11:42 and back-tracked around to the finish line, where they then came onto the turf and proceeded to the clubhouse turn.

Hit the Road, with Umberto Rispoli up, was a winner of the G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (turf) at Santa Anita on March 6, 2021, and was most recently a close third in the G2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 2. A winner of six races from 12 starts and $563,751, Hit the Road is prepping for the G1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at 1 1/8 miles.

With Bodhicitta taking the lead, Hit the Road came onto the turf course about an eighth of a mile behind her and cantered with his pony near the outside fence to the 5 ½-furlong pole, where he shifted down to the rail and in an aggressive move, was in full stride at the five-furlong marker. Clocked by Santa Anita track timer Dane Nelson going three furlongs in 36.14, he finished up five eighths of a mile in 58.42.

Owned by D K Racing, Radley Equine, Inc., Taste of Victory Stables, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road has two graded stakes wins and five overall added money victories on grass included among a lifetime mark of 12-6-0-2.

Bodhicitta, who was ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr. and prepping for the G3, $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational at 1 1/16 miles, remained well in front of Hit the Road and hit the half-mile pole running in an equally aggressive move. Clocked the first quarter mile in 24.17, she finished up her half mile drill in 47.11.

A winner of the G2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar Aug. 8, 2020, Bodhicitta, made her first seven starts in Ireland and all four of her wins from 22 overall starts have come with Baltas in Southern California. Owned by Calvin Nguyen, Bodhicitta has banked $364,808.

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Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Could Lure Summer In Saratoga To Florida In Winter

Trainer Joe Sharp said he would like to run multiple stakes-winner Summer in Saratoga in the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Jan. 29. He and co-owner Anderson Farms just want to make sure she fits.

“We're going to make a decision as it gets a little closer, but it's definitely under strong consideration,” Sharp said. “From what I'm gathering, it looks like her (handicapping) numbers will be pretty competitive in the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. As long as we're both comfortable taking a shot, that might be what we do.”

Summer in Saratoga was fresh off a victory for then-owner Highlander Training Center in Keeneland's Grade 3 Dowager Stakes when the mare was sold for $630,000 at Fasig-Tipton's November sale. Sharp figured that probably was the last time he'd see the daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun. However, Anderson Farms owner David Anderson sent her back to Sharp. In her first and so far only start for her new owners, Summer in Saratoga won the $75,000 Blushing KD Stakes at the New Orleans Fair Grounds.

“Obviously you hope it would work out the way it did,” Sharp said of being able to keep Summer in Saratoga in his barn. “At that price range where she was expected to sell, most people would be purchasing her as a broodmare prospect. There was no guarantee you were going to get somebody who would want to continue to race her, let alone trust us to have her again. It really all came together nicely.”

Sharp had never before met David Anderson, who campaigns the now 6-year-old mare in the name of his farm in Ontario, Canada, and with Narola LLC. Success would come quickly, but not before facing a speed bump.

“We actually sent her up to New York,” Sharp said. “She got scratched in the paddock; she kind of sat down behind. So we brought her down to the Fair Grounds. She got herself back together and ran huge the other day. Corey (Lanerie, her regular jockey) happened to be in town. He knows her so well. It all worked out, basically first start for the new connections to get a win.”

Whether Summer in Saratoga races a full season or races a time or two before being bred would appear up to the 6-year-old mare.

“It's on a start-by-start basis, Sharp said. “From what I understood from Dave, as long as she's performing at a level that can add to her resume, then I think he's content to move forward with racing.”

Sharp has had Summer in Saratoga for all but her first two races. That span encompasses her seven victories, four coming in stakes – including in three of her last four starts.

“Honestly, this moment right now is probably my favorite version of Summer in Saratoga that I've been around,” he said. “There are probably a lot of different factors contributing to that, but mainly maturity. She has that being about her of a good horse that's very alpha and very confident. She makes my job easy.”

While Sharp's main winter base of the Fair Grounds has a series of turf stakes for fillies and mares, those purses don't come close to Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf's $500,000.

“The Fair Grounds series has been good to us over the years,” Sharp said. “But we get spoiled in the spring, summer and fall with the purse structure in Kentucky. So it's nice to have some big purse money to run for in January if you can be competitive. So we're grateful to Gulfstream for putting that on.”

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Gulfstream Releases Invitations For Pegasus World Cup Turf, New Filly & Mare Turf

Defending champion Colonel Liam and fellow Grade 1 winners Channel Cat, Hit the Road, Point Me By and Two Emmys are among 18 horses invited to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) Saturday, Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

A total of seven graded stakes worth $5.2 million in purses will be offered on Pegasus Day, led by the return of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Pegasus World Cup Turf and the debut of the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3).

All three races are for 4-year-olds and up. The Pegasus World Cup and Pegasus Turf are both contested at 1 1/8 miles while the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf, previously known as the Marshua's River, will be run at 1 1/16 miles.

Robert and Lawana Low's Colonel Liam won the Tropical Park Derby during the 2020-'21 Championship Meet as a prelude to his Pegasus Turf victory by a neck over stablemate Largent. Colonel Liam went on to win the Muniz Memorial (G2) and Turf Classic (G1) and was eighth in last June's Manhattan (G1) in his most recent start.

“We've kind of had in mind that our best approach for him to try and defend his Turf title is just to train up to it. He had some time off and he's a horse that we think will run well fresh,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He's put enough into his training that hopefully we can have him ready to run a good race off the layoff.”

Largent and Never Surprised are also on the list of Pegasus Turf invitees. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Largent won the 2020 Fort Lauderdale (G2) as a prep for the Pegasus Turf and went unraced until finishing fourth in the Jan. 8 Tropical Turf (G3) at Gulfstream. Repole Stable's Never Surprised, placed in three graded-stakes, became a three-time stakes winner with his triumph in Gulfstream's Tropical Park Derby Dec. 26.

“Never Surprised, we were happy with his race over the course. It's kind of similar to what Colonel Liam did last year, going from the Tropical Derby to the Pegasus,” Pletcher said.

Trainer Mike Maker won the 2020 Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha, and four of his horses are among the invitee list – Atone, Cross Border, Field Pass and Flavius. Three Diamonds Farm owns Atone, runner-up in the Dec. 18 Fort Lauderdale, and multiple graded-stakes winners Cross Border, third in the 2020 Pegasus Turf, and Field Pass. Maker recently added Flavius, a stakes winner in the U.S. and Europe.

Also invited to the Pegasus Turf are Grade 1-winning millionaire Channel Cat; Fort Lauderdale winner Doswell; 2021 Frank Kilroe Mile (G1) winner Hit the Road; two-time Grade 2 winner March to the Arch; 2021 Bruce D. (G1) winner Point Me By; Irish Group 2 winner Space Traveller, fourth in the Fort Lauderdale; 2021 Mr. D. (G1) winner Two Emmys; and Sacred Life, a Grade 3 winner in the U.S. and France trained by Chad Brown, who won the 2019 Pegasus Turf with Bricks and Mortar en route to Horse of the Year honors.

Atone and Space Traveller are joined on the also-eligible list by Bob and Jackie, English Bee, Flavius and Law Professor.

Four G1 Winners Among Invites for Inaugural Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3)
Grade 1 winners Abscond, Lady Speightspeare, Mucho Unusual and Regal Glory top 15 horses invited to the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. Abscond in 2019 and Lady Speightspeare in 2020 captured the Natalma at Woodbine; Mucho Unusual won the 2020 Rodeo Drive and Regal Glory won the Matriarch Nov. 28 at Santa Anita to cap her 2021 campaign.

Also on the invite list is Robert and Lawana Low's Sweet Melania, who earned her third career graded-stakes triumph in the Dec. 18 Suwannee River (G3) at Gulfstream. She also shares the shedrow for Pletcher, who joins Richard Baltas (Ginobili, Bob and Jackie, Bodhicitta) as the only trainers with invitees in all three races.

“We plan to run Sweet Melania in there. She ran good in her last start and it's good timing for her to come back. She's really come out of that race in sharp form, so that's what we're thinking there,” Pletcher said. “Fingers crossed, [20] days out, we've got some chances. We'll hope everything goes smoothly.”

Rounding out the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf invitees are two-time Grade 3 winner Alms; 2020 Yellow Ribbon (G2) winner Bodhicitta; 2021 Edgewood (G2) winner Gift List; 2021 American Oaks (G1) runner-up Nicest; multiple graded-stakes winner Princess Grace; 2021 Noble Damsel (G3) winner Shifty She; 2021 Dowager (G3) winner Summer in Saratoga; and In a Hurry, third to Sweet Melania in the Suwannee River.

The also-eligible list includes Abscond, Bipartisanship and Burgoo Alley.

$1 MILLION PEGASUS WORLD CUP TURF (G1) INVITATIONS

Chanel Cat
Colonel Liam
Cross Border
Doswell
Field Pass
Hit the Road
Largent
March to the Arch
Never Surprised
Point Me By
Sacred Life (FR)
Two Emmys

AE – Atone
AE – Bob and Jackie
AE – English Bee
AE – Flavius
AE – Law Professor
AE – Space Traveller (GB)

$500,000 PEGASUS FILLY & MARE TURF (G3) INVITATIONS

Alms
Bodhicitta (GB)
Gift List (GB)
In a Hurry
Lady Speightspeare
Macho Unusual
Nicest (IRE)
Princess Grace
Regal Glory
Shifty She
Summer in Saratoga
Sweet Melania

AE – Abscond
AE – Bipartisanship (GB)
AE – Burgoo Alley (IRE)

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