White Abarrio runs away by 6 1/4 lengths in $3 million Pegasus

White Abarrio ranged up to free-running pacesetter Saudi Crown midway through the second turn, drew even straightening for home and opened up through the stretch to a register a stakes-record, 6 1/4-length triumph in Saturday’s Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational for older horses racing 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park.

White Abarrio ($7.60), second choice in a field of 11 at odds of 5-2, completed the distance in 1:48.05 over a fast main track to surpass the previous largest margin of victory, 5 3/4 lengths, set by City of Light in 2019. He gave jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. his third victory in Gulfstream’s richest race that was created with the rebranding of the Donn Handicap in 2017. He previously won with Life Is Good in 2022 and Mucho Gusto in 2020.

Click here for Gulfstream Park entries and results.

“We had a lot of faith in him today,” Ortiz said. “The whole way around he felt like a winner.”

It was the third win of the day for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., leading the standings chasing a fourth straight Gulfstream championship-meet title. It was his first in the Pegasus World Cup. He won the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) in 2022 with White Abarrio, who earned his fourth Grade 1 victory and first since the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), during a five-race stint with trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.

“I thought the Breeders’ Cup Classic was the best race of his life, but this was very close behind,” Joseph said. “Everything just aligned. You come up with a plan, and more often than not, it doesn’t work. But today it did.”

Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Saudi Crown, 10th to White Abarrio in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic, went to the front as expected from post 2 and ran the opening quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds. He was a length ahead of 2024 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Stronghold with 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan right alongside. Mixto, winner of the 2024 Pacific Classic (G1), raced fourth along the rail with White Abarrio in the clear three wide in fifth.

Saudi Crown went a half-mile in 46.68 seconds as Stronghold and Mystik Dan continued to battle each other for second. Ortiz continued to give White Abarrio open air, and the 6-year-old responded by effortlessly gliding unimpeded toward the leaders. As Stronghold and Mystik Dan began to struggle keeping up, White Abarrio set his sights on Saudi Crown.

“After he broke, it made everything easier,” Ortiz said. “His last race he did something he never did before. He came from off the pace, taking dirt in traffic, and still wanted to win. (On Saturday) I was focused on my horse to break out of there. I was watching Saudi Crown. He’s a nice horse, so I didn’t want to be too far from him. I had a great feeling going to the quarter pole, because I knew I had a lot of horse. I was home. When I asked him, he really took off.”

What had evolved into a two-horse race between White Abarrio and Saudi Crown leaving the second turn quickly turned into a tour de force for White Abarrio, who straightened for home with momentum and left his rivals far behind. He ran a mile in 1:35.44 and was geared down as he crossed the wire for his ninth career victory and improved to 7-for-9 lifetime at Gulfstream.

He needed to break. He didn’t break the last couple of times, and the break was going to be important,” Joseph said. “He was able to get his dream trip. Once he gets into the clear, that’s when he really runs normally his best race.”

Grade 1 winner Locked, favored at 9-5 off back-to-back wins including the Cigar Mile (G2) last out, drew outside all but one of his rivals and got off slowly to find himself trailing all but three horses through six furlongs. After racing wide on both turns under John Velazquez, he came with a dramatic late run to beat White Abarrio’s stablemate Skippylongstocking by a neck for second.

“I thought he ran probably the best race of his life,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said of Locked. “He had his head turned at the start and got away last, and it’s lot to overcome from the 10 post to begin with. He gave up a lot of position early. I thought he closed really well. Credit to White Abarrio. He ran a great race. He shot well clear at the top of the stretch.

“Johnny said he thought (Locked) would have won if he broke with the field, but he didn’t. Unfortunately from that post, you can’t make any mistakes, and missing the break was really the one mistake you didn’t want to make.”

Skippylongstocking, in his third straight Pegasus World Cup, registered his best finish yet coming in third, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Mixto in fourth. It was another half-length back to Saudi Crown in fifth followed by Steal Sunshine, Crupi, Power Squeeze, Mystik Dan, Stronghold and Newgrange. Vitality, 2024 winner of the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie in Canada, was scratched.

Owned by C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Antonio Pagnano, White Abarrio was bought privately after a 6 3/4-length debut triumph in September 2021 at Gulfstream and moved to Joseph. He won four of the next 11 starts including the Holy Bull (G3) and Florida Derby and was second in the Ohio Derby (G3) and third in the Cigar Mile (G1).

After finishing eighth in the 2023 Pegasus, White Abarrio was sent to Dutrow in New York in the summer of 2023. That was after two horses in Joseph’s care died amid a spate of equine deaths at Churchill Downs. Before Joseph eventually was cleared in the ensuing investigation, C2 Racing transferred White Abarrio to make him eligible for races at Belmont Park and Saratoga.

Racing for Dutrow, White Abarrio won the Whitney (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic before returning to Joseph after finishing 10th last year in the Saudi Cup (G1) and fifth in the Met Mile (G1).

“It really has come full circle,” said Mark Cornett, who owns C2 with his brother Clint. “We never really lost any faith in this horse after he shipped to Saudi. He was on a plane for about 24 straight hours unfortunately and drew the 1 hole. I wasn’t happy about that at all.

“He came back over here and ran in the Met Mile, and I didn’t like the situation he was in. There were a lot of things going on, and that’s when we made the decision. I talked to Clint, and we decided it was the perfect time to get him back to Saffie and his home base at Gulfstream. It’s home.”

White Abarrio improved his record to 20: 9-2-3 and boosted his bankroll to $6,879,850.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime horse,” Clint Cornett said. “We’re just ecstatic.”