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White Abarrio romps in the Pegasus World Cup (Angelo Lieto)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Antonio Pagnano’s White Abarrio ranged up to free-running pacesetter Saudi Crown midway on the far turn, drew on even terms straightened for home and opened up in impressive fashion through the stretch to a register a stakes-record 6 ¼-length triumph in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
The ninth running of the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus for 4-year-olds and up anchored a blockbuster 13-race program featuring 10 stakes, seven graded, worth $5.625 million in purses including the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Qatar Racing and $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) presented by SirDavis American Whiskey.
White Abarrio ($7.60), second choice in a field of 11 at odds of 5-2, completed the distance in 1:48.05 over a fast main track to surpass the previous largest margin of victory, 5 ¾ lengths, set by City of Light in 2019 and give jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. his third victory in Gulfstream’s richest race. He previously won with Life Is Good in 2022 and Mucho Gusto in 2020.
“We had a lot of faith in him today,” Ortiz said. “The whole way around he felt like a winner.”
It was the third win of the day for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., leading the standings chasing a fourth straight Championship Meet title, and first in the Pegasus World Cup. He previously won Gulfstream’s signature race, the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) with White Abarrio in 2022. White Abarrio earned his fourth Grade 1 victory and first since the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), during a five-race stint with trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.
“I thought the Breeders’ Cup Classic was the best race of his life, but this was very close behind,” Joseph said. “Everything just aligned. You come up with a plan and more often than not it doesn’t work, but today it did.”
Grade 1 winning multimillionaire Saudi Crown, 10th behind Saudi Crown in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, went to the front as expected from Post 2 and ran the opening quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds, a length ahead of 2024 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Stronghold with 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan right alongside. Mixto, winner of the 2024 Pacific Classic (G1) sat fourth along the rail with White Abarrio in the clear three wide in fifth.
Saudi Crown went a half-mile in 46.68 seconds as Stronghold and Mystik Dan continued to battle each other for second. Ortiz continued to give White Abarrio open air and the 6-year-old responded by effortlessly gliding unimpeded toward the leaders. As Stronghold and Mystik Dan began to struggle keeping up, White Abarrio set his sights on Saudi Crown.
“After he broke, it made everything easier,” Ortiz said. “His last race he did something he never did before. He came from off the pace, taking dirt in traffic, and still wanted to win. [Today] I was focused on my horse to break out of there. I was watching Saudi Crown; he’s a nice horse so I didn’t want to be too far from him. I had a great feeling going to the quarter pole because I knew I had a lot of horse. I was home. When I asked him, he really took off.”
What had evolved into a two-horse race between White Abarrio and Saudi Crown leaving the far turn quickly turned into a tour-de-force for White Abarrio, who straightened for home with momentum and left his rivals far behind. He ran a mile in 1:35.44 and was geared down as he crossed the wire for his ninth career victory and improved to 7-for-9 lifetime at Gulfstream.
“He needed to break. He didn’t break the last couple of times, and the break was going to be important,” Joseph said. “He was able to get his dream trip. Once he gets into the clear, that’s when he really runs normally his best race.”
Grade 1 winner Locked, favored at 9-5 off back-to-back wins including the Cigar Mile (G2) last out, drew outside all but one of his rivals and got off slowly to find himself trailing all but three horses through six furlongs. After racing wide on both turns he came with a dramatic late run to beat White Abarrio’s stablemate, Skippylongstocking, by a neck for second.
“I thought he ran probably the best race of his life,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said of Locked. “He had his head turned at the start and got away last and it’s lot to overcome from the 10 post to begin with. He gave up a lot of position early [but] I thought he closed really well. Credit to White Abarrio, he ran a great race. He shot well clear at the top of the stretch.
“[Jockey] Johnny [Velazquez] said he thought [Locked] would have won if he broke with the field, but he didn’t,” he added. “Unfortunately from that post you can’t make any mistakes, and missing the break was really the one mistake you didn’t want to make.”
Skippylongstocking, in his third straight Pegasus World Cup, registered his best finish yet, 1 ¾ lengths ahead of Mixto in fourth. It was another half-length back to Saudi Crown in fifth, followed by Steal Sunshine, Crupi, Power Squeeze, Mystik Dan, Stronghold and Newgrange. Vitality, 2024 winner of the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie, second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown, was scratched.
White Abarrio was purchased privately following a 6 ¾-length debut triumph in September 2021 at Gulfstream and moved to Joseph. He won four of the next 11 starts including the Florida Derby and Holy Bull (G3), and was second in the Ohio Derby (G3) and third in the Cigar Mile (G1). Eighth in the 2023 Pegasus World Cup, he was sent to Dutrow in New York in the summer of 2023 and won the Whitney (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic before returning to Joseph after finishing 10th last year in the Saudi Cup (G1) and fifth in the Met Mile (G1).
“It really has come full circle,” Mark Cornett said. “”We never really lost any faith in this horse after he shipped to Saudi. He was on a plane for about 24 straight hours unfortunately and drew the one-hole. I wasn’t happy about that at all.
“He came back over here and ran in the Met Mile and I didn’t like the situation he was in. There were a lot of things going on and that’s when we made the decision. I talked to Clint and we decided it was the perfect time to get him back to Saffie and his home base at Gulfstream. It’s home.”
White Abarrio improved his record to 9-2-3 and boosted his bankroll to $6,879,850 from 20 starts.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime horse,” Clint Cornett said. “We’re just ecstatic.”
