Pegasus races planned for Gulfstream and Santa Anita in 2024 – KGET 17

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — After seven Pegasus World Cup events, it’s clearly time for a change.

1/ST Racing, which has so far hosted the entire Pegasus Series at Gulfstream Park, is planning two Pegasus Days in 2024 – one at Gulfstream and the other at Santa Anita. Details haven’t been finalized and it’s unclear how it will fit into the racing calendar, but 1/ST plans to race Pegasus on both dirt and turf as part of the Santa Anita program.

Gulfstream hosted the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Saturday, along with the $1 million Pegasus Turf and the $500,000 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.

“I’d really like to see us bring it to the West Coast,” said 1/ST President and CEO Belinda Stronach. “That’s probably going to happen in 2024. What we did this year for 2023 was say, ‘OK, we’ve got some great race days, let’s coordinate them better and call it the 1/ST Racing Tour and recognize the great achievements in our own footprint.”

Saturday marked the first stop on that new 1/ST Racing Tour. Along with some of the biggest race days at 1/ST tracks — such as Florida Derby Day at Gulfstream on April 1, Santa Anita Derby Day on April 8 and the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20 — there are several days when the tour will run simultaneously.

Next Saturday, Gulfstream will host Holy Bull, while Santa Anita has the Robert B. Lewis – both Kentucky Derby prep races.

And on March 4, Gulfstream has the Fountain of Youth, another big Derby prep, while San Anita has the Big Cap. Plans call for coordinated posting times at the two tracks on those days to ensure the best racing action every 20 minutes, as well as some unique betting options.

“We can never rest on our laurels,” Stronach said. “We have to keep going. We have a great team that is really dedicated.”

The main Pegasus breed is one of the highest paid breeds in North America. Art Collector earned about $1.8 million from a $3 million purse with his win on Saturday. In 2022, only the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf had higher prize money among American races, and the $3 million Pegasus purse equaled that offered last year at the Kentucky Derby.

Regardless of what happens with Santa Anita’s plan for future Pegasus events, Stronach insisted Gulfstream will continue to have Pegasus days. There was even talk of Gulfstream hosting the Breeders’ Cup again, something that hadn’t happened since 1999.

“This is staying here in Miami,” Stronach said. “Pegasus has a home here in Miami. We can’t move Pegasus out of Miami. We have great partners here and it’s more than a day. We have deep roots here in Miami.”

___

AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports