Gun Runner favorite for $16 million Pegasus

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Gun Runner’s final race might be a bit of a challenge.

The 5-year-old is the overwhelming 4-5 favorite for Saturday’s $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. But the likely Horse of the Year — an honor that will be announced today at the Eclipse Awards — will have to win his finale from a post near the outside after drawing the No. 10 spot in an expected 12-horse field.

Horses that start at least that far from the rail in distance events at Gulfstream are winning at only about an 8 percent clip this season. Then again, none of those starters was of Gun Runner’s caliber.

“I’ve always said you don’t know to complain about a post position until after a race is run,” Gun Runner trainer Steve Asmussen said after Wednesday’s draw. “So it might work out perfectly for him. The horse is doing extremely well, in the capable hands of [jockey] Florent Geroux, and hopefully we’ll have a big day Saturday and send the 2017 Horse of the Year out on top.”

Gun Runner will be racing for the last time before retirement. He has won four consecutive starts, all of them Grade 1 events, and will have a chance to push his career earnings to nearly $16 million. Saturday’s winner earns a $7 million share of the purse.

Gun Runner finished third in the 2016 Kentucky Derby behind Nyquist and Exaggerator but didn’t run afterward in the Preakness or Belmont. In his first race of 2017, he won the Grade III Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. He then went on to finish second in the Dubai World Cup in March 2017 before his four-race winning streak.

Sharp Azteca is the second choice in the morning line, at 6-1. Collected and West Coast — both trained by Bob Baffert, who got Arrogate the victory in the inaugural Pegasus last year — will start at 8-1.