Audible shows 'all the right signs' in Pegasus World Cup prep

China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, Starlight Racing and WinStar Farm’s Florida Derby (G1) winner Audible breezed four furlongs Saturday morning for his return to graded-stakes competition in the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3) Dec. 15 at Gulfstream Park.

Working in company with Grade 1 turf winner Hi Happy, Audible went the half-mile in 48.68 seconds at trainer Todd Pletcher’s winter base of Palm Beach Downs. It was the third work for the 3-year-old Into Mischief colt since launching his comeback with a victory in the Cherokee Run Stakes Nov. 3.

“I think Audible has been training exceptionally well. His breeze this morning was a good, solid half with a strong gallop-out, which is what we were looking for,” Pletcher said. “We really like the way he’s progressed since the Cherokee Run. You can see him physically developing from 3 to 4, and he’s giving us all the right signs at the moment.”

Pletcher plans to use the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday for 3-year-olds and up as a springboard to the $9 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26 at Gulfstream. Audible is unbeaten in two starts over the main track, having won the Holy Bull (G2) prior to his Florida Derby triumph.

The Cherokee Run was the first race for Audible since his third-place finish behind eventual Triple Crown champion Justify in the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 5. He was given time off at WinStar Farm in Kentucky and returned to Pletcher’s care in September, and will be ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in the Harlan’s Holiday.

“We just tried to lay out a game plan that would hopefully get us to the Pegasus and decided that the race at Churchill going seven furlongs was a good starting point. I was pleased that he was able to show enough speed to be able to win at seven-eighths,” he said. “We felt like the spacing and timing of that to the Harlan’s Holiday was good and … the timing from the Harlan’s Holiday to the Pegasus is kind of laid out just like you’d hope it would be if things continue to go as well as they currently are.”

Hi Happy, winner of the Pan American (G2) at Gulfstream March 31, is being pointed to the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) on the same program as the Harlan’s Holiday.

“They’re veteran horses that know what they’re doing. They’ve worked together in the past and they’re pointing for races on the same day,” Pletcher said. “Hi Happy is a horse that, even though he has some dirt form, is clearly better on the turf so we expected Audible to be a little stronger of the two and it worked out, but I think we got what we wanted from both of them.”

Margoth’s multiple graded-stakes winner Gunnevera also made his return to the work tab for the first time since running second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 3 with an easy half-mile breeze in 50.80 seconds Saturday over the main track at Gulfstream Park West.

Gunnevera is being pointed to make his 5-year-old debut in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus by trainer Antonio Sano. Gunnevera, a six-time winner with more than $4 million in purses from 19 career starts, finished third behind Horse of the Year Gun Runner in this year’s Pegasus.

Irad Ortiz Jr., the leading jockey in the country with 324 wins and $26.7 million in purse earnings heading into Saturday’s Clasico del Caribe program at Gulfstream, was aboard for the work. Ortiz rode Gunnevera in the Breeders’ Cup and will have the call for the Pegasus.

“He worked really good. He did,” Ortiz said. “They told me he doesn’t do too much in the morning but he did good. I don’t know how fast he went, but I thought he went great. He was comfortable and he did everything right; very, very good.”