Next Saturday, January 25 is the 4th annual Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series, held at Gulfstream Park.
The Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series is a series of two invite-only Grade 1 races held at Gulfstream Park since 2017 (originally only offering a dirt race before adding the turf division last year).
The $3 million dollar Pegasus World Cup runs 1 1/8 miles on the dirt, and the $1 million dollar Pegasus World Cup Turf runs 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Both races are for horses 4 years and older and by invitation only, and traditionally some of the best horses in the world compete for the top prizes.
This year, the Stronach Group, which owns Gulfstream Park and heads the Pegasus World Cup, announced major changes to the series. Both races will be run entirely medication free, as part of an industry-wide push for more safety and transparency in horse racing.
Additionally, all entry fees will be waived as purses have decreased. Entry fees for the Pegasus have peaked as high as $1 million in past years. The purse for the Pegasus World Cup was dropped from $9 million in 2019 to $3 million this year, and the Pegasus World Cup Turf also saw a $6 million purse decrease from $7 million to $1 million.
The Stronach Group also announced that 2 percent of the purses will be donated to caring for retired Thoroughbreds ready to be retrained and re-homed.
In 2019 CITY OF LIGHT Won the Pegasus World Cup, while BRICKS AND MORTAR took top honors in the Pegasus World Cup Turf.
Next week, after the fields are complete and Post Positions drawn, the Daily Racing Blog will take a closer look at these two races and do some fearless forecasting. Our quest for Value continues. So stop back.
