$700k Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational

$7,000,000 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1)
Gulfstream Park

Race 11 (Saturday, January 26, 2019: 4:57 p.m./ET; 1:57 p.m./PT)Mile and three sixteenths on the turf (three-year-olds and upward)

The inaugural Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) features a field of 10 going the distance of a mile-and-three-sixteenths on the grass. Entrants in the race include a Japanese mare AEROLITHE, the Aidan O’Brien trained MAGIC WAND and a number of North American contenders who look to defeat the overseas invaders in what appears to be a wide open and competitive race. We’ll begin our analysis with the runner from the inside post position:  

#1 MAGIC WAND (IRE) ran a respectable fourth behind monsters SISTERCHARLIE, WILD ILLUSION and A RAVING BEAUTY in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) for trainer Aidan O’Brien last time out. This race is no cakewalk either, but we know she’s got class, as she finished second in a pair of Group 1’s in France before that Breeders’ Cup run and is a Group 2 winner herself. Must be tabbed as a major player.

#2 YOSHIDA (JPN) is a versatile Bill Mott entrant that comes off a length-and three-quarter loss in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) behind Pegasus Dirt Invitational (G1) favorite ACCELERATE. His effort two back, a win in the Woodward (G1) in front of Grade I winner LEOFRIC, was outstanding and he returns to a surface in which he has thrived on, with four of his five lifetime wins coming on grass. All signs indicate he has gotten better with age. Dangerous.

#3 CHANNEL MAKER, the other Bill Mott runner, was a no show in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), but was a game winner of the Turf Classic (G1) two starts back at Belmont and dead heated for the win with Grade I winner GLORIOUS EMPIRE during the summer in the Bowling Green (G2). Both of those wins came on soft turf and there is a 60% chance of showers for Saturday at Gulfstream.

#4 AEROLITHE (JPN) ships in from Japan and faces males here. This five-year-old is 4-for-13 lifetime, with five second place finishes. Her biggest career win came in the NHK Mile Cup (G1) in May, 2017, a race in which she defeated males. It is difficult to assess how she fits with the main contenders in here, but she isn’t shipping across the world for nothing.