PEGASUS GOLD CUP AT GULFSTREAM PARK – HORSE OF THE YEAR AWARD ALSO UP FOR GRABS

Excitement is building in America with the third running of the Pegasus Gold Cup at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach in Florida next weekend. The $9 million race will be augmented by the first running of the $7 Million Pegasus Turf Cup, and all this drama happens two days after The Eclipse Awards take place in Florida. Regarding the Eclipse Awards, most of the awards are a lock with maybe a couple of categories in doubt. One of those is the trainer title which should go to Chad Brown for his twenty Grade One victories, but Bob Baffert will probably get it. Baffert of course was the trainer of Triple Crown winner JUSTIFY, who only raced for eleven weeks before retiring. He will rightly be challenged in the voting by ACCELERATE who has had a fantastic year.
The media have hyped up the controversy, but my polling of a few of the individuals who get to vote for Horse of the Year indicates that Justify is a certainty to get the accolades.
The Gold Cup favorite will be Accelerate and fully expect him to land the odds and end his career in a brilliant style. He will be challenged by Breeders Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light and probably about nine other runners. The field for the turf is still taking shape at press time with horses shipping in from Ireland, Japan and Mexico amongst the likely contenders and a full fourteen horse field is expected.