Pegasus World Cup Notes
At 0h03, on January 28, 2022 • By GULFSTREAM
A dazzling showdown of speed in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) presented by 1/ST BET at Gulfstream Park is being anxiously awaited in advance of a showdown between defending champion Knicks Go and Life Is Good.
Knicks Go has won eight of 10 starts since being transferred to trainer Brad Cox – all achieved in gate-to-wire style. However, it has taken more than speed for Knicks Go to become Longines 2021 World’s Best Racehorse.
When a horse with superior speed runs at longer distances, his chances of success may hinge more on how he handles the turns than how fast he is.
“He runs the turns well. He can kind of clear off on the first turn. He’s a horse that when he hits his left lead he doesn’t slow down much. He bounces on that left lead going into the turn and creates some separation on the first turn,” Cox said.
Channel Cat’s Future Rests on Pegasus Turf
His performance in Saturday’s $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Baccarat will do more for Channel Cat than top what is already a long list of career accomplishments.
The 1 1/8-mile event for 4-year-olds and up will help determine the future of the 7-year-old Calumet Farm homebred, a son of their late stallion English Channel, the turf champion of 2007 and prominent grass sire who passed away last November at age 19.
Trainer Jack Sisterson said the connections have had initial conversations about Channel Cat beyond the Pegasus, when he will be making his 31st career start.
“We’ll see how he runs on Saturday,” Sisterson said. “We pre-entered him for the race at Saudi and there’s potentially Dubai. It’s great that the farm likes to run them while they’re doing well.
“Unfortunately, with the loss of English Channel and Channel Cat being a son of English Channel, could he be a replacement?” he added. “I don’t really get too much involved with the breeding side of it. There were talks of it [being his last race], but it’s kind of been left open to see how he runs. It’s up to him to tell us, and he’s showing us signs right now that he definitely wants to still run.”
Channel Cat became a Grade 1 winner in the 1 3/8-mile Man o’ War last spring at Belmont Park, just shy of two years after first finding graded success in the 2019 Bowling Green (G2) at Saratoga, when he was trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. Sisterson took over Channel Cat’s training in the spring of 2020.
