The 110-foot-tall statue of the winged horse Pegasus that welcomes guests to Gulfstream Park is an instance of Stronach’s imaginative and prescient. The horse can’t be ridden, neither is it an amusement park trip. It merely is<\/i>. Stronach had it commissioned as a result of he is wealthy, and, properly, why the hell not? Often, that is the one clarification required from an individual of his stature.<\/p>\n
But this seemingly pointless Pegasus statue was infused with newfound function when Stronach launched the Pegasus World Cup at his Hallandale Beach racetrack in 2017. Here, Stronach noticed a niche within the schedule between the annual Breeders’ Cup occasion in November and the beginning of the breeding season in February, figuring out {that a} very wealthy race in late January would give champion older horses one final probability to compete earlier than expensive copulation turned their retirement occupation.<\/p>\n
Stronach and his Gulfstream costs set the purse for the race at $12 million, which on the time was probably the most profitable horse race on this planet. Ingeniously, nevertheless, Gulfstream would not need to fund this purse itself. Instead, a horse’s connections needed to put up $1 million to buy a spot within the 12-horse beginning gate, which noticed Bob Baffert’s splendid Arrogate defeat the folks’s champion, California Chrome<\/a>, within the Pegasus World Cup’s inaugural version.<\/p>\n You can splurge for a $25,000 luxurious suite at this yr’s race. <\/p>\n Eclipse Sportswire photograph <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Gulfstream goosed the pot to $16 million by kicking in $4 million of its personal (or Stronach’s) cash for the next yr’s race, received by Gun Runner<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 like Arrogate, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner \u2014 within the ultimate begin of his illustrious profession.<\/p>\n Stronach’s grand plan was working. Despite a gradual discount in purse measurement to the present $3 million (in equity, Pegasus Day now options a number of graded stakes races, so the dough has been unfold out) and the emergence of the $20 million Saudi Cup in 2020, the Pegasus World Cup has largely retained its standing as a spot the place Breeders’ Cup champs \u2014 be they victors of the Classic or the Dirt Mile \u2014 head for one final career-defining race earlier than they retire to the breeding shed, with 2022’s de facto match race between Life Is Good and Knicks Go<\/a> delivering a duel for the ages.<\/p>\n But the sphere for this yr’s race<\/a>, which will likely be run on Saturday, January\u00a028, is, to place it charitably, missing in star energy. Favorites Art Collector, Stilleto Boy (third in final yr’s Pegasus World Cup), Skippylongstocking (winner of Gulfstream’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes on New Year’s Eve), and White Abarrio are good horses, however they’d be pegged as also-rans in Pegasuses previous.<\/p>\n The high two finishers on this previous November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic \u2014 Flightine, probably the most proficient racehorse to come back alongside in no less than 50 years, and Olympiad \u2014 have been rapidly retired to stud after that race, whereas the third-place finisher, Taiba, is being pointed towards February’s Saudi Cup. A fourth potential top-tier Pegasus entrant popping out of the Classic, Hot Rod Charlie, has additionally been despatched to stud.<\/p>\n Fortunately for these contemplating an outing to Gulfstream on Pegasus Day, the off-track sights are, um, reasonably enticing this yr.<\/p>\n The barrier for entry \u2014 ticket costs begin at $125 \u2014 to Gulfstream’s marquee day on the races is reasonably steep. But it’s nowhere close to as steep as a 110-foot statue of a flying horse. Feel free to drop $25,000 on a luxurious suite if you wish to attain an analogous peak.<\/p>\n This is not the Kentucky Derby and even the Breeders’ Cup, however Pegasus attendees can anticipate to gawk at just a few celebrities, with Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez (might’ve been so lovely<\/a>), Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams, Vin Diesel (!!!), and Usher amongst a number of stars who’ve proven as much as play the ponies (or their devices) in years previous. There’s all the time a musical visitor, too, with Post Malone, Snoop Dogg, Thomas Rhett, and Ja Rule among the many listing of previous headliners.<\/p>\n OneRepublic and Kygo, amongst others, will carry out at this yr’s race. <\/p>\n Deep Sleep photograph <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The musical mainstage this yr will characteristic veteran pop-rockers OneRepublic and Norwegian DJ Kygo<\/a>, who’ve collaborated earlier than on a handful of singles. Hence, on or off the monitor, the neatest cash of the day could be on OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder becoming a member of Kygo \u2014 who resembles a better-looking Macaulay Culkin \u2014 onstage for his or her pandemic anthem, “Lose Somebody.”<\/a><\/p>\n Yet the anthem that Pegasus attendees want to show their consideration to is a far older one: “Swanee River (Old Folks at Home).” Written by Stephen C. Foster in 1851, it turned the official tune of the Sunshine State in 1935, changing “Florida, My Florida.” The Swanee River depicted in Foster’s lyrics is the Suwannee River, which, because the\u00a0Florida Department of State’s web site states<\/a>, “separates the Florida panhandle from the remainder of the state.”<\/p>\n Kentucky has “My Old Kentucky Home” on the primary Saturday in May, whereas the Preakness options “Maryland, My Maryland,” and tipsy Belmont revelers belt out “New York, New York” on nationwide tv each June. Unlike “Swanee River,” these songs are uniters, not dividers.<\/p>\n The Pegasus World Cup will not be a part of the Triple Crown. But even in an off yr, it stays a high-quality horse race to anchor a day of epic merrymaking. More importantly, it’s Florida’s race.<\/p>\n On January 28, let the river run dry, for nothing shall separate one Gulfstream patron from one other. This is a day for Floridians to flash their collective delight, to inadvertently drop their dance companions and proclaim, as Tedder may, “It’s too late to apologize.”<\/a><\/p>\n Pegasus World Cup.<\/b> 10 a.m. to six p.m. Saturday, January 28, 2023, at Gulfstream Park, 901 S. Federal Hwy., Hallandale Beach; pegasusworldcup.com<\/a>. Tickets value $125 to $770.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/media2.miaminewtimes.com\/mia\/imager\/u\/blog\/16166206\/liv_skydeck_at_the_2020_pegasus_world_cup_-_photo_credit_-_e.jpg?cb=1674219622\")
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