By Bill Finley
Though the connections of Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) have yet to commit to running their star 3-year-old in the GI Pegasus World Cup, they are making moves that indicate the $12 million race is very much on their mind.
Arrogate is scheduled to work three furlongs Thursday morning at Santa Anita, which will be his first work since he won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 5. Having a work this close to the Breeders' Cup would be out of the ordinary for a horse that is not preparing for a start within a fairly short period of time.
“Arrogate is doing awesome,” trainer Bob Baffert reported via text message.
Arrogate's presence in the starting gate Jan. 28 at Gulfstream would likely mean a much-anticipated rematch with California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), the second-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Classic and the front-runner for the 2016 Horse of the Year title.
Garrett O'Rourke, who manages Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte U.S. operation, told the TDN that a Pegasus decision remains on hold, but his comments concerning whether or not Arrogate will start were encouraging.
“We think the right thing to do is to see where we are going through December and, by time we get through December, if it's all systems are go I think we'll be ready to make a concrete decision then,” O'Rourke said. “The horse will dictate what direction we go in. All things being equal we'd like to be there. We've run this by Prince Khalid and he hasn't expressed any desire not to go. He is a sportsman. But we're not going to make the final decision until we are sure that we have a horse that is fit and ready for his best race. It is a horsemanship approach because we saw what an amazing effort it took from our horse to beat California Chrome in the Breeders' Cup. We know if we go back a furlong on a speed favoring track, it's going to take the same effort and Bob is going to have to tell us the horse is ready to do that.”
O'Rourke continued, “The Pegasus World Cup is a tremendous idea and we don't want to dissuade anyone from coming up with a fantastic idea like the Stronach group has. All things being equal, we'd like to aim for the Pegasus. If we go, whether we go there with or without a prep will be up to Bob Baffert. The plan has basically been to start back on similar program he had with Arrogate going up to the Breeders' Cup when he had a similar two-month break between races, the [Aug. 27 GI] Travers [S.] and the Classic.”
O'Rourke said that he has been contacted by people who own a starting spot in the race, which Juddmonte does not. However, he is not ready to begin any serious negotiations with anyone until a firm decision has been made to start.
“l have had people approach me, but until the horse is ready for us to make a decision, we won't make anyone any promises or go into too many details with anyone,” he said. “I have had discussions with some people saying they would like to do business with us. A lot of this is going to have to be presented to Prince Khalid at the time, but we're not going to get to that stage until the horse sends us the signals we will be looking for.”
O'Rourke added that no decision has been made either on whether or not Arrogate will run in the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 25.
Getting a California Chrome-Arrogate rematch would be a home run for the Stronach Group and Gulfstream, but it would put those looking to sell or lease their starting spots in a precarious position. If the “big two” run, the third choice in the race could be in the 10-1 or 12-1 neighborhood. The starting spots originally sold for $1 million, exactly what the third-place finisher receives, making third the “break even” point. To pay $1 million to run against California Chrome and Arrogate with any horse is something many owners may not want to do.
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