The Pegasus World Cup will take place in two days. Here's all you need to know . . . or at least the basics.
What: The Pegasus World Cup is the richest horse race in the world with a purse worth a whopping $12 million. The race has a unique format in which stakeholders paid $1 million for a starting slot in the race and then chose a horse to fill that slot.
When: On Saturday, January 28 at 4:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: The race will air live on NBC. TVG Network has plenty of pre-race analysis.
Where: Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL. Gulfstream Park is a beautiful facility that, in addition to horse racing, includes gaming, shopping, dining and more. You can find Gulfstream Park a few miles north of Miami or at www.gulfstreampark.com. You can also visit the Pegasus World Cup website at www.pegasusworldcup.com.
Who: The stars are California Chrome and Arrogate.
Chrome is the richest horse in the history of horse racing with more than $14 million in earnings. He's won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Dubai World Cup among other races. (Prior to the Pegasus World Cup, the Dubai World Cup had been the richest race in the world). Chrome recently won the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.
Arrogate, trained by Bob Baffert, is coming off a win in the Breeder's Cup Classic and recently won an international award as the World's Best Racehorse. As a 3-year-old, Arrogate did not run in the Triple Crown races but, later in the year, won the prestigious Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course before capturing the Breeder's Cup Classic.
Other horses in the race are well-accomplished but not to the level of Chrome and Arrogate. The other starters include Prayer for Relief, Neolithic, Noble Bird, War Story, War Envoy, Shaman Ghost, Semper Fortis, Keen Ice, Breaking Lucky and Eragon.
Noteworthy: This race is a rematch between Chrome and Arrogate who faced off in the Breeders' Cup Classic in November. Arrogate won the race by half a length.
Sound smart when you say . . . This will be the last race of Chrome's career before he becomes a stud at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, KY where he will demand a stud fee of $40,000. You can learn more about Chrome's future at stud in a previous post on the Bluegrass Blog.