Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Gargan optimistic Tax will do better in second Pegasus
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The starting lineup for next Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational will include three horses who competed in the race here last winter, including Tax, whose trainer, Danny Gargan, is extremely confident he will give a much better account of himself than his ninth-place finish in the big event one year ago.
Tax essentially lost all chance after stumbling leaving the starting gate for the 2020 Pegasus World Cup. He recovered to show brief speed while parked wide before weakening to finish 15 1/4 lengths behind race winner Mucho Gusto. A former claimer who competed in two of the three legs of the 2019 Triple Crown, Tax has started just twice since the Pegasus, running fifth in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap last May, and returning from a seven-month layoff to register an easy wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday here earlier in the meet.
Tax had his final tune-up for the Pegasus World Cup on Friday morning at Palm Meadows, breezing an easy half-mile in 48.00 seconds. That work came on the heels of a bullet four furlongs in 46.40 one week earlier.
“The work this morning was just maintenance for him,” said Gargan, who trains Tax for R.A. Hill Stables and Reeves Thoroughbreds. “He did it in hand and galloped out strong. He had his big work last week. We used to have to put him in company to make him work fast. But since the layoff, he’s become more aggressive – too aggressive to put with another horse. I’m really happy with him now. I think he’s going to run a big race. At least he’s training like he will.”
Gargan said the time off after the Oaklawn Handicap did Tax a world of good.
“He’s matured so much,” Gargan said. “Visually, he looks way better – stronger, fitter, sounder – than he ever did. He ran from the time we claimed him at 2 right through his 3-year-old campaign and the Pegasus last year. And that can be hard on a horse, especially when you go through the grind of the Triple Crown races like he did. He needed the time off, our thinking being, since he’s a gelding, giving him breaks like that will help keep him around a lot longer.”
Tax raced without Lasix in the 2020 Pegasus, and like everyone else in the field, will race without Lasix again next week. Gulfstream does not allow the use of Lasix in stakes races, a policy instituted on Jan. 1.
“A lot of people think he ran poorly in this race last year because he didn’t get Lasix,” Gargan said. “That had nothing to do with it. He stumbled at the start, and after that it was all over from there. He won without Lasix as a 2-year-old. He’s not a bleeder, although he is a big, big horse so my main concern is the body weight. Look, everybody has a horse or two in their barn who needs it, and for some the new rule is going to change their lives. But I’m not in panic mode because he won’t be running with Lasix in the Pegasus. I’m guessing the rule will affect a lot more horses in the field than it will affect him.”
Gargan is off to a great start since shipping to South Florida a couple of months earlier. He won with three of his four starters at the end of the Gulfstream Park West meet and with 9 of 23 during the opening five weeks of the current session.
“We had a bunch of horses get sick and miss starts after we left New York and went to Kentucky, so we came down here with a lot of fresh horses ready to run,” Gargan said. “We’ve been placing them in the right positions, especially the grass horses, who you can take an edge with knowing they probably won’t be going back to New York when the meet ends. A lot of these races have just fit us well, and we’ve also had our share of luck, which you always need to win races anywhere.”
The other two who ran in last year’s Pegasus and are expected to return this year are Mr Freeze and True Timber. The list of expected starters also includes Code of Honor, Knicks Go, Jesus’ Team, Sleepy Eyes Todd, Harpers First Ride, Math Wizard, and Kiss Today Goodbye. King Guillermo is possible but not likely to start. The alsoeligibles are Coastal Defense and Independence Hall.
Three allowances on card
Sunday’s card features a trio of allowance races, the first two restricted to Florida-breds and the third an open entrylevel allowance for fillies and mares to be run at a mile over the main track. That race goes as the 10th event on an 11-race card that begins at 12:05 p.m.
An evenly matched field of 10 will go in the $47,000 headliner, three of whom won their last start, including Katz a Dream, who in her only start rallied to an easy 3 3/4-length victory going six furlongs over a sloppy track at Gulfstream Park West. A Whisper Hill Farm homebred, Katz a Dream is by Tizway out of the Grade 2-winning mare Katz Me If You Can, and is trained by Ralph Nicks.
Both Erv’s Wench and Princess Betty earned career-best Beyer Speed Figures winning their 2020 finales. Erv’s Wench rallied to defeat conditioned $50,000 claiming opposition over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25. Princess Betty stretched out to a mile for the first time to defeat statebred allowance company here on Dec. 17 for her third victory in six career starts.
Other key contenders in the race include the Grade 3-placed Impeccable Style and Heiressindy, who has finished second under similar conditions in her last three outings.