There had been rumors that Frank Stonach was ready to create a race that was worth more then the Dubai World Cup. Sure enough Wednesday it was announced that on Jan 28, 2017 the Pegasus World Cup with a purse of $12 million will be run at a mile and an eighth for four years and up.
However is it really a good idea?
Look at this way, Gulfstream's big race for older males until next year has been the Donn Handicap which has been a G1 race since 1988. It is held what would be the week afterward the Pegasus will be held yearling (aka the first weekend in February). What is going to happen? Move it to early January so it could be a prep? Cancel it all together?
Of course the other big question will be which horses will show up? My guess would be that it would primarly be horses who are skipping the Breeders' Cup due to long seasons or frankly just not good enough to take on the top horses on the East, West coasts as well as possible international horses in the Classic. So would you rather see a race that involved horses like American Pharoah, Honor Code, Effinex and California Chrome or a race that involve horses like Dortmund, Keen Ice and Hard Aces. The former sounds better to me.
Finally the price of entry is high... way high. They are asking for a million dollars just to enter. Sure the owners of the horses who will be entering can afford it, but that is still a lot of money for some people.
Overall I see the Pegasus being a bad idea, and would not be surprised if it's a one and done.
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