The Pegasus World Cup Invitational

The first (hopefully, annual) Pegasus World Cup Invitational horse race will be run on Saturday, 28 January at Gulfstream Park in Florida.  The race will be run at a distance of 1 1/8 miles on the main dirt track.  The starting time is listed as 5:40 p.m.  EST.  NBC will have live coverage.
    The Pegasus has several unique features.  The race is for four-year-olds and up - handicap horses, in other words.  Each entrant has paid a $1 million entry fee; to ensure a full gate, and good race, if a horse becomes ill or lame and must scratch, another horse may be named to race in its place.  The winner of this race will receive $7 million; second place receives $1,750,000; third place receives $1 million; all others will receive a payment of $250,000 each.
    Frank Stronach, who decided upon the rules for the race, would like to have the race be free of any race-day drugs.  As an incentive, any horse that does not use Lasix gets a 5 pound allowance in weight.  Only one horse will do so, Eragon, the four-year-old Argentinian colt.  All of the other entrants will carry 124 pounds, while Eragon will carry 119.
    Most handicappers believe that it will be a "two horse race" between California Chrome and Arrogate.  I'm assuming that the betting odds will reflect that.
    Following is a list of the entries - post position, name, where bred, jockey, assigned weight, and trainer:
1.     Arrogate    (Ky)             Mike Smith        124#       Bob Baffert
2.     Prayer for Relief (Ky)   F. Geroux            124#      Dale Romans
3.     Neolithic (Ky)               J. Velesquez        124#      Todd Pletcher
4.     Noble Bird (Ky)            J. Leparoux         124#      Mark Casse
5.     War Story (Ky)             A. Gallardo         124#      Jorge Navarro
6.     War Envoy (Ky)            Luis Saez            124#      Mick Ruis
7.     Shaman Ghost (On)       Jose Ortiz           124#      James Jerkens
8.     Semper Fortis (Ky)       T. Gaffalione       124#      Doug O'Neill
9.     Keen Ice (Ky)                J. Castellano       124#      Todd Pletcher
10.   Breaking Lucky (On)    L. Contreras        124#      Reade Baker
11.   Eragon (Arg)                  E. Prado              119#      Laura Wohlers
12.   California Chrome (Ca)  V. Espinoza        124#      Art Sherman

  The following three horses have been designated as alternates:  Stanford will take the place of Arrogate, should Arrogate scratch;  Sea Raven  will replace Breaking Lucky, if scratched; and if California Chrome is scratched, Madefromlucky will run in his place.
   Wishing great racing luck to all of the participants!!

Breeders Cup Information - Part 3

The final four races of the Breeders Cup Championship Races have a total combined purse of $11,500,00. Wouldn't all of us regular working stiffs love to have that money?
Again, horses designated with an * have won a Breeders Cup Challenge Race, and are guaranteed a post position in the starting gate.

The sixth  race on Saturday, 2 November, will be the Breeders Cup Turf, a contest for horses of any sex, aged 3-years-old and up.  The race covers one and one-half miles on the grass, and there are thirteen pre-entries for the $3,000,000 purse:
*Big Blue Kitten
 Grandeur (bred in Ireland)
 Indy Point (bred in Argentina)
*Little Mike
 Magician (bred in Ireland)
 Point of Entry
*Real Solution
 Skyring
 Tale of a Champio
 Teaks North
*The Fugue (bred in Great Britain)
 Twilight Eclipse
*Vagabond Shoes (bred in Ireland)

The Breeders Cup Sprint will run next, for horses of any sex, 3-years-old and up, and cover 6 furlongs (or 3/4 mile) on the main track.  There are fifteen pre-entries for the $1,500,000 purse:
*Bahamian Squall
 Capo Bastone
 Fast Bullet
 Gentlemen's Bet
 Justin Phillip
 Laugh Track
 Majestic Stride
*Points Offthebench
*Private Zone
 Reneesgotzip
 Secret Circle
*Sum of the Parts
 The Lumber Guy
 Trinniberg
 Wine Police

The Breeders Cup Mile is the penultimate race, for horses of either sex, covering the distance of one mile on the grass.  There are sixteen pre-entries for the $2,000,000 purse:
 Boat Trip
 Bright Thought
 Christoforo Colombo
 Flotilla (bred in France)
 He Be Fire N Ice
 Jeranimo
 Magician (bred in Ireland)
 Mshawish
 No Jet Lag
*Obviously (bred in Ireland)
 Olympic Glory (bred in Ireland)
 Silentio
 Toronado (bred in Ireland)
*Wise Dan
 Za Approval

The climax of the program is the Breeders Cup Classic, a one and one-quarter mile race on the main track. It is open to horses of either sex, aged 3-years-old and up, and has a purse of $5,000,000.  There are thirteen pre-entries:
 Declaration of War
 Flat Out
*Fort Larned
*Game On Dude
 Graydar
 Last Gunfighter
 Moreno
*Mucho Macho Man
 Palace Malice
 Paynter
 Planteur (bred in Ireland)
*Ron the Greek
 Will Take Charge

And just a silly bit of trivia at the end...  Do you know why the monetary prize for horse racing is called a purse?  Originally, when a horse race was set up, a neutral party held the amount the race winner would receive - and it was sewn into a silk purse.  The idea being that the silk would show any tampering with the stitches, and coin could not be removed from the purse before the race.  Of course, today our "purses" are split between the top five finishers, with the rest of the field getting only applause for their payment.
*** Oxbow, the winner of the 2013 Preakness Stakes, has been retired and will stand at stud at Taylor Made in Kentucky.  His fee is $20,000 when foal stands and nurses.  ***