Neolithic runs himself into Pegasus World Cup picture

Starlight Racing’s Neolithic put himself into the Pegasus World Cup Day picture Wednesday at Gulfstream Park, rolling to a dominating front-running triumph in the featured ninth race, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race.

The Todd Pletcher-trained 3-year-old colt scored by nine lengths to stamp himself as a candidate for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and the $400,000 Poseidon at Gulfstream Jan. 28.

“We’ve got plenty of time to see how things shake out. He ran well enough to put everything into play,” Pletcher said.

Neolithic ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.58 after setting fractions of 23.28 (seconds), 45.97, 1:10.26 and 1:35.28. Jack Wolf, managing partner of Starlight Racing, was impressed sufficiently to consider the $460,000 yearling purchase a candidate for Pegasus World Cup.

“Yeah, I think so, and at the very least the AE spot in the $400,000 race on the undercard,” Wolf said, “if he comes out of it in good order.”

 

A Starlight Racing partnership group is a stakeholder for the Pegasus and the Poseidon.

Neolithic was hustled out of the starting gate by jockey Javier Castellano to assume the lead on the first turn and show the way along the backstretch, pressed by Kelly Tough while setting solid fractions for the first half mile. The son of Harlan’s Holiday continued to show the way under a motionless Castellano into the stretch before being asked for some run, and the 1-5 favorite drew off impressively before galloping out well beyond the finish.

“I thought he ran super. The fractions were pretty strong. I was a little worried when they threw up the 45 (-second half-mile fraction), but he looked like he was doing it well within himself,” Pletcher said.

The late-developing Neolithic entered Wednesday’s feature off a third-place finish in the Discovery (G3) at Aqueduct Nov. 12.

 

X Y Jet worked at Gulfstream Park West Wednesday morning in preparation for a defense of his Mr. Prospector title, firing off a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.00, breezing. The six-furlong, $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) is scheduled for Dec. 26.

 

The move was X Y Jet’s first since finishing third as the favorite in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at Laurel Park Nov. 19. That race marked the 4-year-old’s second start since returning from a seven-month layoff to recover from surgery to remove a knee chip. In his first start off the bench, the Jorge Navarro-trained gelding was fifth in the Vosburgh (G1) at Belmont Park in October.

 

“After the Laurel race we scoped him and he was 4 out of 5 with mucous,” Navarro said. “The weather kind of got to him . . . it was pretty cold there . . . and we also had him on a plane. But he worked really good today and we’re looking forward to the Mr. Prospector.”

X Y Jet’s win in last year’s Mr. Prospector took place in the midst of a win streak where he reeled off five consecutive victories, including three wins at Gulfstream Park. In addition to the Mr. Prospector, he also captured the Sunshine Millions Sprint and the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes (G3). After finishing second in Dubai's Golden Shaheen (G1) in March, X Y Jet was diagnosed with a knee chip and subsequently underwent surgery.