Pegasus World Cup 'on the table' for McKinzie, Baffert says
The morning after McKinzie’s 4 3/4-length blitz of a victory in the Malibu Stakes (G1), Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said the Grade 1, $9 million Pegasus World Cup is “on the table” for the colt.
“We’re going to think about it now,” Baffert said by phone.
He plans to wait a week before making any further determinations about the Jan. 26 race at Gulfstream Park. The early returns were positive.
“Today he looked really fantastic,” Baffert said of McKinzie, a 3-year-old son of Street Sense campaigned by longtime clients Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman.
“We brought him out, and he looked really good. He was pretty bright and happy — probably the best he’s come back after a race.”
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McKinzie overcame a bit of a stumble at the break and ran from the 13th post position in a full Malibu field of 14. Similar to when Baffert remarked that Justify could have won any race on the Belmont Stakes card last summer, he said McKinzie also ran big enough to have won Santa Anita’s Wednesday feature including older horses around two turns, the San Antonio Stakes (G2).
The Malibu marked McKinzie’s third start off a layoff due to a hock injury that forced him to miss the Triple Crown series and summer highlights such as the Travers Stakes. But connections have always thought highly of the $170,000 purchase, naming him after a late friend and Los Alamitos racing executive, Brad McKinzie.
The horse won the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) off the bench in September but didn’t fire in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Of course, he bounced back in Wednesday’s Malibu.
“We’ve always had really high regard for him, but he was just a lanky, lean, immature-looking horse,” Baffert said. “He’s finally getting it together now. We knew he had that raw talent. I think yesterday was the first time he really put it together.
“The older he gets, they get better — just like we’ve seen it with Accelerate and all these horses. They just get better with age.”
Accelerate, the Horse of the Year contender, heads the early list of Pegasus probables along with Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light. Baffert doesn’t often spot horses well in advance, and with McKinzie soon to be 4, “Now we can sort of pick our spots,” he said.
“You can manage them. With 3-year-olds, you’re trying to manage them, but you’ve got to worry about getting (Kentucky Derby) points and all that stuff.”