Eragon Stretches His Legs for Pegasus World Cup (VIDEO)
Less than 24 hours after becoming the first contender for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) to arrive on the grounds, multiple Argentinian Group 1 winner Eragon got his first look at Gulfstream Park’s main track Friday morning.
The 6-year-old son of Offlee Wild, with regular exercise rider Marcelino Torres aboard, stepped out on the track at 8:13 a.m., jogged twice the wrong way accompanied by a pony, then turned around and galloped once around by himself before returning to Barn 19.
It was the first exercise for James McIngvale’s Eragon since clearing a two-week quarantine in Miami and arriving at Gulfstream, where he walked the shedrow Thursday morning for trainer Laura Wohlers.
“I think he was much more relaxed than I thought he was going to be, which made me happy. We did a lot with him today just because he’s been a little anxious from being in quarantine. I’m glad he settled and did it nice and easy,” Wohlers said. “He sounded a little tired at the end, but that’s expected. I was happy with the way he went.
“He was very relaxed, I thought, out on the track. The surface here is a lot softer and open,” she added. “They’re very sealed-like tracks in Argentina, so he seemed to really be skipping across it. He seemed to like the surface. He didn’t do anything crazy, which is exactly what we wanted to see. It's what you don’t see that you sometimes like better.”
McIngvale, one of 12 stakeholders that put up $1 million apiece for a spot in the Pegasus starting gate, purchased Eragon privately following the horse’s victory in a Group 1 in November. The inaugural running of the world’s richest race, to be contested over 1 1/8 miles, is Jan. 28.
Wohlers said she had hoped to start Eragon prior to the Pegasus and had looked at both a race in Argentina as well as the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday (G3) Dec. 17 at Gulfstream, but had to scrap both plans. She said the $150,000 Hal’s Hope (G3) for 4-year-olds and up going a mile at Gulfstream Jan. 14 was unlikely.
“Probably, no, he’s not going to go in the Hal’s Hope. That’d probably be crazy at this point,” Wohlers said. “That was preferably the plan to try to get a race in him but at this point we’ll train him into the race and see how he does. Hopefully, he goes out there and runs a good race. He looks like he’s a nice racehorse. He’s got some wins under his belt and he’s mature and he understands what he’s doing. We’ll know more once he gets out there and starts training more.”
McIngvale purchased his spot in the Pegasus with the intent of running 2015 male sprint champion Runhappy, but the Eclipse Award winner was retired after finishing unplaced in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
Wohlers, McIngvale’s sister-in-law, said she hopes to breeze Eragon at least twice at Gulfstream for the Pegasus, which is expected to feature a rematch of Arrogate and California Chrome, the 1-2 finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 5.
The richest thoroughbred in North American history and 2014 Horse of the Year, California Chrome is scheduled to arrive at Gulfstream from California late Friday afternoon.
“I think we have to gallop him for a couple days and see how he recovers. His energy level seems to be fine but he got a little tired today doing that, and we asked him to do a lot,” Wohlers said. “We won’t jog him two miles every day. I just didn’t want him to go out there today and gallop too strong first day back. We’ll see how he gallops and once he looks like he’s recovering well from it, we’ll start some speed work with him. I don’t know if we’ll have time to get three [works] but we’ll see. You don’t know until you get out there.
“He’s a smaller horse, so it’s easier to keep them fit and get them fit. We’ll see how he does over the next couple weeks and then we’ll make some decisions on what to do,” she added. “We just have to go day by day and not really look at the calendar right now and just see how he’s doing. We’re going to run the best race we can. We’re looking forward to the whole year with him.”
Source: Gulfstream Park