Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}), expected to make his final career start in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, turned in his last work at Gulfstream Park Monday, going a half-mile in :48.96 (9/15) (video). With exercise rider Angel Garcia aboard on a track closed for his workout at 7:30 a.m., the 5-year-old worked from the half-mile pole to the finish line and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.11.
“I loved how he did it,” Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asumssen, said. “Angel was really happy with him and said, 'I never asked him to do anything.'”
Gun Runner capped his 2017 season with a win in the Nov. 4 GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The flashy chestnut's career finale will come two days after he is expected to be named 2017 Horse of the Year during Thursday's Eclipse Awards Ceremony.
“He's just been really special to us and he continues to do exactly what you want him to do,” Blasi said. “It's kind of unheard of over a three-year career. I'm just really happy with how he got over the ground. He's cooling out great and is ready for Saturday.”
Gun Runner has won 11 of 18 career starts and earned $8,988,500. A victory in the Pegasus World Cup, worth $7 million, would move him into second place in career earnings for a horse based in North American, behind only Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), who won the inaugural Pegasus in 2017.
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