Spirit of St Louis makes the grade in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Spirit of St. Louis made the most of a rare trip away from New York Saturday, securing his first graded stakes victory by a neck in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Qatar Racing at Gulfstream Park.
The seventh running of the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus Turf for 4-year-olds was part of a blockbuster 13-race Pegasus World Cup Invitational program featuring 10 stakes, seven graded, worth $5.625 million in purses including the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) presented by SirDavis American Whiskey.
The 6-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro had some trouble in the trip, but jockey Tyler Gaffalione swung him outside to find running room at the top of the stretch and caught Integration just before the wire. He completed the race in 1:44.50 and paid $17.80. Integration finished 1 1/4 lengths in from of Chasing the Crown, who was 60-1. Godolphin’s Nations Pride, the 7-2 favorite, finished ninth in the field of 12.
Trainer Chad Brown, who received his fifth Eclipse Award Thursday night, trains the chestnut for Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn. Spirit of St. Louis came into the Turf with nine wins from 13 starts. All nine of the victories were on New York tracks and eight were in New York-bred company. In his lone previous graded stakes try, he was fifth in the Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland in October.
Brown prepared Spirit of St. Louis in at Payson Park this winter and said he was pleased that the horse was invited to the race.
“The horse had been training super,” Brown said. “I’m just fortunate the horse got in the race because without a lot of graded stuff next to him and no graded wins, he could have easily gotten excluded. I’m happy he was in the race and he fired today. Tyler, just another brilliant ride. Honestly, I haven’t had a good meet here. Tyler’s ridden a bunch of them, and I don’t think I’ve had one bad trip. Tyler’s just been in the right spot at every pole in every race, at least for my horses that I’ve watched. Just phenomenal riding. He’s in career form. Just so happy for the partners that are here today. It’s just a great day here at Gulfstream.”
While Formidable Man and Win for the Money were leading the way through fast early fractions of :22.74, :46.20 and 1:09.29, Gaffalione and Spirit of St. Louis were in mid-pack a few lengths pack, but stuck between horses.
“I loved where he was, but the fact that he found himself between horses down the backside, I’d rather either be on the rail or two deep,” Brown said. “Right in between two horses can get a little tight at times, so I was mildly concerned. I loved where he was in relation to the leader and the pace, but I didn’t know how he was going to track from there. One of the many great moves in the race was Tyler on the turn when he sort of let a couple other horses go first and cleared his own path rather than try to go with him. He would have got jammed up if he went with them.”
Gafflaione took the horse out to the middle of the course and he responded.
“I needed to keep an eye on them all around me, especially when William [Buick aboard Nations Pride] went up the fence and gave me a good target,” Gaffalione said. “I just kind of waited for my spot and coming into the stretch I was able to work my way out and the horse did the rest. I’m so happy for the connections and thankful for the opportunity. It’s incredible. This is home for me and it’s good to see so many friendly faces and it’s good to be back in the winner’s circle.”
Integration, the 7-2 second choice, looked like a winner in the stretch, but could not hold off Spirit of St. Louis.
“I had him where I wanted him,” jockey Frankie Dettori saidf. “I knew he’d stay so I kicked, and one came out of the pack and got me on the line. I wanted to be a little closer because it didn’t read like there was going to be a ton of pace. We know the horse can run longer so I wanted to be [closer] the way the turf is riding today. No excuses.”
