Preview of Upcoming US Horse Racing

Pegasus World Cup

Gulfstream Park will host the fourth annual Pegasus World Cup of horse racing and there will be plenty of money on the line in this nine-card race. Seven of those nine will be worth anywhere between $150,000-$3000,000 but the co-main events will feature the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf and the $3 million Pegasus World Cup.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will be atop the favorite, Omaha Beach, winner of the Malibu Stakes (G1) in his most recent effort, and has drawn the No. 5 post. This will be the finale to Omaha Beach’s notable career and one in which he was scratched as the favorite entering last year’s Kentucky Derby due to a throat ailment that ultimately required surgery. The Triple Crown races would pass him by, as he was on the mend, but upon returning he finished first at the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G1) and then took top honors at the Malibu in December as a 4-5 favorite.

However, there will be redemption on the mind of everyone in the Omaha Beach camp because Spun to Run, will be in the No. 9 gate and the last time these two met it was the latter who scored an upset as the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1). Veteran Javier Castellano has been tapped to ride Spun to Run and will be aboard her for the first time.

Highly decorated trainer Bob Baffert has entered Mucho Gusto into the Pegasus and is currently the third choice at odds of 9-2 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr breaking from the No. 10 position.

Below you can see all the latest entries competing in one of the richest horse races on the planet, the Pegasus World Cup. Don’t forget to check out the Bovada review for ways to bet on this and any of the other horse racing events throughout the year.

1. True Timber – Jockey – Joe Bravo/ Trainer – Kiaran McLaughlin (20-1)
2. Tax – Jockey – Jose Ortiz/ Trainer – Danny Gargan (12-1)
3. Diamond Oops – Jockey – Julien Leparoux/ Trainer – Patrick Biancone (20-1)
4. Seeking the Soul – Jockey – John Velazquez/ Trainer – Dallas Stewart (30-1)
5. Omaha Beach – Jockey – Mike Smith/ Trainer – Richard Mandella (7-5)
6. Higher Power – Jockey – Flavien Prat/ Trainer – John Sadler (6-1)
7. War Story – Jockey – Joel Rosario/ Trainer – Elizabeth Dobles (30-1)
8. Mr. Freeze – Jockey – Luis Saez/ Trainer – Dale Romans (30-1)
9. Spun to Run – Jockey – Javier Castellano/ Trainer – Juan Carlos Guerrero (7-2)
10. Mucho Gusto – Jockey – Irad Ortiz, Jr/ Trainer – Bob Baffert (9-2)
11. Tenfold – Jockey – Tyler Gaffalione/ Trainer – Steve Asmussen (30-1)
12. Bodexpress – Jockey – Emisael Jaramillo/ Trainer – Gustavo Delgado 30-1

Houston Ladies Classic

Serengeti Empress will headline the field of the eighth running of the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic Stakes, reserved for fillies and mares, four-year-old and up, during the Houston Racing Festival at Sam Houston Race Park. There will be six entries competing but Serengeti Empress, the 2019 Kentucky Oaks winner, is the odds-on favorite. However, she will have some classy company with the five others who will circle the mile and 1/16th dirt oval with her.

Multiple graded stakes winner, Street Band, is another top talent in the race and one who claimed the Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx Racing last September with a brilliant ride by jockey Sophie Doyle over the 1 1/16th mile distance. Trainer Larry Jones has saddled two previous winners in the Ladies Classic and noted, “It looks like the toughest one yet. This race at Sam Houston Race Park has been a nice fit for us, and to win it three times would be great for this cowboy.”

Legendary trainer Steve Asmussen is hoping to saddle up his second consecutive Ladies Classic winner after Midnight Bisou took top honors last year and will bring Fantasy Stakes, Remington Park Oaks, and Iowa Oaks winner Lady Apple into the fray to achieve that end. The Curlin filly will hope to improve upon her third-place finish to Serengeti Empress in the Kentucky Oaks last year.

Rounding out the field is Mylady Curlin, the Falls City Handicap (G2) winner, Out for a Spin – winner of the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1), and lastly, Saracosa, who breezed by the competition at the Bob Fortus Memorial Stakes last month.