South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Hyde: Money makes Pegasus
Event makes you think there’s a future in horse racing.
HALLANDALE — City of Light shone brightly on a gloomy, muddy afternoon that was rapidly fading to darkness to win the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
The richest race in North America turned into the anticipated duel of Breeders Cup winners, a first for the three-year-old Pegasus. City of Light won the Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs in November and Accelerate took the Classic later that afternoon. They split two previous head-tohead meetings.
Javier Castellano broke open the rubber match by getting first run on the final turn on a track in which leaders coming into the stretch won the majority of dirt races. Castellano had City of Light
City of Light, with jockey Javier Castallano up, leads the pack during the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. prominent from the start. Jose Ortiz gunned Patternrecognition to the front, using him hard from the difficult outside post in the
12-horse field, but Castellano, who came out of the ground saving 3 slot, didn't let him get away.
City of Light stayed lapped on Patternrecognition until the field approached the far turn. Spent from his early exertion, Patternrecognition offered little resistance as City of Light shook him off and got away.
Acclerate, between horses in third about two lengths back, also made his move at this point but City of Light was clearly going better. Accelerate got to within about a length turning for home before City of Light spurted away, leaving no doubt who the winner would be.
Completing a mile and an eighth in 1:47.71, City of Light drew away to win by
5 3⁄4 lengths as the 9-5 second choice.
Seeking the Soul rallied late to pass Accelerate, the
3-2 favorite, by a length and a half. Previously undefeated Mexican Triple Crown champion Kukulkan beat only Patternrecognition, who was essentially pulled up in the stretch.
City of Light's owner, William K. Wright Jr., said he was concerned about the track condition, which deteriorated throughout the day. "I didn't know if City of Light could handle it."
Castellano said it turned out his horse loved it. "He was splashing around like a kid on a playground. I don't think there is any horse in the world who could have beat him today."
Trainer Michael McCarthy, a former Todd Pletcher assistant who went out on his own with one horse five years ago, was almost too emotional to describe what the victory meant to him. Choking up, he said, "To have a horse like this come into your life, I can't describe it."
As her father fought for words, his 8-year-old daughter Stella, on her father's lap, reached up and hugged him tenderly.
The win was worth $4 million, the biggest payoff in American racing.
Bricks and Mortar wins Turf:
America's male turf division was bereft of a standout last season but a star for the new year emerged in the first running of the Pegasus Turf. Bricks and Mortar, who was sidelined with injuries from October 2017 to a prep race last month, decisively ran away from nine rivals to capture the richest grass race in North America.
The victory was a triumph for a couple of established stars. Chad Brown, named America's outstanding trainer for the third straight time Thursday, brought the colt back off his 14-month layoff to prevail against the finest international field that Bricks and Mortar leads the pack during the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. Irad Ortiz Jr., throws flowers after winning the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational aboard Bricks and Mortar.
could be assembled.
Irad Ortiz Jr., who won his first Eclipse as 2018's
outstanding jockey, gave Bricks and Mortar, the 5-2 second choice, a superbly
timed patient ride. Ortiz got Bricks and Mortar away alertly but quickly took his foot off the gas. Bricks and Mortar was fourth into the first turn and by the time they were midway down the backstretch Ortiz let his mount slide back to where he had only two rivals beaten.
Once Ortiz asked for run, Bricks and Mortar shifted into another gear. He cruised past the horses in front of him and as the leaders turned for home, Bricks and Mortar, who lost ground swinging wide, had dead aim on Catapult and Delta Prince, the only ones left to catch.
Bricks and Mortar finally hit the front in midstretch then glided away to his final 2 1⁄2 length margin. "I got a perfect trip," Ortiz said. "My horse put me in a good position and when I kicked him out, he exploded."
European filly Magic Wand closed late up the rail to nail the place by a neck from Delta Prince. Catapult held on for fourth.
Favored Yoshida finished sixth and Japanese shipper Aerolithe ran ninth.
Bricks and Mortar ran a mile and three-sixteenths in 1:54.59 and earned
$2.656,250 from the purse reduced from its advertised $7 million to
$6,708,329 because only 10 horses started.
The Rangers announced that they will retire 3B Adrian Beltre’s No. 29 at a ceremony sometime in June. Beltre, a four-time All-Star who had 3,166 career hits, played the last eight of his 21 big-league seasons for the club before retiring in November. It will be the fourth number retired by the Rangers.
BASEBALL: FIGURE SKATING:
Two-time defending champ Nathan Chen took the lead at the U.S. championships in Detroit after recording a score of 113.42 in the short program. The reigning world champ led Jason Brown by 12.9 points and Vincent Zhou by 13.17 heading into Sunday’s free skate. Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc won the pairs title . ... In the final competition of his career, Javier Fernandez of Spain won his seventh straight European title. Fernandez, 27, scored 179.75 points in the free skate to rally from third after Thursday’s short program, finish with 271.59 points and claim gold in Minsk, Belarus. Alexander Samarin of Russia was second (269.84) and Matteo Rizzo of Italy was third (247.08).
World No. 1 Justin Rose recorded two double bogeys but still shot a 3-under 69 on the South Course at Torrey Pines to maintain a threeshot lead at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. A day after tying the 36-hole tournament record, Rose tied the 54hole mark at 18-under
198. Adam Scott (65) was second, while Tiger Woods (71) was tied for
48th, 13 back of Rose . ... Bryson DeChambeau fired a third-round 4under 68 to take a onestroke lead at the Dubai Desert Classic. DeChambeau, who shared the lead at the midpoint of the European Tour event, reached 16-under 200. Defending champ Li Haotong of China (67) was second.
GOLF:
Lions LB Trevor Bates, 25, was arrested in New York on charges that he failed to pay a taxi fare and then later punched a police officer, who suffered a concussion . ... The Bears signed starting RT Bobby Massie, 29, to a four-year contract extension through the 2022 season. Financial details weren’t announced.
NFL:
Clement Noel of France won a World Cup slalom race in Kitzbuehel, Austria. Noel beat seven-time overall Cup champ Marcel Hirscher of Austria by 0.29 seconds to earn his second career Cup victory just six days after claiming his first . ... Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria won a World Cup super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It was Schmidhofer’s first career super-G victory and third Cup win overall. She finished 0.23 seconds ahead of Olympic downhill champ Sofia Goggia of Italy, who raced for the first time since breaking her right ankle while training in October.
SKIING:
Duke QB Daniel Jones threw a TD pass and ran for another score in the third quarter to lead the North to a 34-24 victory over the South at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala . ... Manchester City routed visiting Burnley 5-0 to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup. It was the eighth straight win in all competitions for City . ... Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. won a World Cup women’s bobsled race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, ending Germany’s 24race winning streak in Cup and Olympic competition . ... City of Light, trained by Michael McCarthy and ridden by Javier Castellano, won the $9 million Pegasus World Cup dirt race in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
ALSO: — Edited from news services