Horse of the Year finalist Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), last seen capturing the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs Nov. 3, had his penultimate workout at Santa Anita Friday morning for the $9-million GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 26, going seven furlongs in a bullet 1:27.20 (1/4) with assistant trainer Juan Leyva astride.
“I got him in 1:27 and [galloping] out a mile in 1:40 4/5, so it was a good long-distance work,” trainer John Sadler said. “On this track, it's not super-fast. He'll come back next week with more of a blowout type work, like five-eighths or something like that. But I'm glad we got this one in today because of the weather. It's going to rain tomorrow and we've got a lot of rain next week.”
City of Light (Quality Road), winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 3, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 (8/95) at Santa Anita Friday. He is also aiming for a start in the Pegasus.
Channel Maker on Course for Pegasus Turf…
Grade I winner Channel Maker (English Channel), hero of last term's Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S., has joined the field for the $7-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 26. The Bill Mott-trained 5-year-old gelding, who is owned by Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, is on course to make his ninth Grade I start in his last 10 races in the world's richest turf race.
“He has put up some really great numbers,” Dean Reeves said. “We looked at him as a horse that, for a number of years, we could run in the top turf races, not only in the United States, but we could take this horse to England or Dubai, wherever we wanted to go. Certainly, we had the Pegasus as a race we were going to point to when we talked about partnering in the horse.”
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