Pegasus World Cup Is as Much About Partying as Racing

Regardless of what you think of horse-racing tycoon Frank Stronach, it can never be said that the man has half-assed anything.

Take the statue outside Gulfstream Park, which Stronach once owned and operated. (His daughter, Belinda, has since taken the reins.) It is hardly unusual for a horse track to have a statue of a horse on its property, but it is highly unusual for that horse to have wings, to be battling a dragon, to be constructed from hundreds of tons of bronze and steel, and to stand 110 feet tall.

But, hey, that's Frank, and when he turned his attention to Gulfstream hosting a marquee racing event that would put it in the ring with the likes of Churchill Downs, he did so with similarly garish zeal. The result was the Pegasus World Cup, named for the aforementioned enormous statue.

With $12 million in purse money, it was the richest horse race in the world when the inaugural edition was run in January 2017, a notoriously soft spot in the American racing calendar. And Stronach's genius was that he wasn't on the hook for any of the dough. Rather, a horse's connections would have to pay $1 million for one of 12 positions in the starting gate. The Bob Baffert-trained Arrogate, the most accomplished horse in the land at the time, won the one-and-one-eighth-mile race around Gulfstream's dirt oval, and the Pegasus seemed poised to live up to Stronach's lofty expectations.

The following year, Stronach and the track kicked in $4 million to jack the purse up to $16 million. Again, the race was won by a Breeders' Cup Classic champion, Gun Runner. In subsequent years, however, the lavish entry fees were lowered to $500,000 and then to nothing, with the purse ultimately dropping to its present-day standard of $3 million. That's still an incredibly lucrative horse race, and with the likes of Knicks Go and Life Is Good prevailing in 2021 and 2022, respectively, it has typically continued to attract elite talent.

But last year, the field wasn't nearly as loaded, and a past-his-prime Art Collector prevailed. Same goes for this year's race, which will be run on Saturday, January 27. Then again, while no one will ever confuse likely entrants Señor Buscador, Skippylongstocking, National Treasure, and Saudi Crown with Arrogate or Gun Runner, they're all seasoned stakes horses in what's shaping up to be a competitive field.

And from a bettor's perspective, competition trumps star power in the quest for fatter billfolds.

The Pegasus undercard, which includes a $1 million turf championship as well as a $500,000 turf invitational for female horses, will offer bettors plenty of value as well. But as with the Kentucky Derby, Pegasus Day is as much about pageantry and partying as it is about fast animals.

Mirroring Stronach's penchant for extravagance, the winners of the World Cup and World Cup Turf Invitational will receive 20-inch crystal replicas of the winged Pegasus that are valued at around $40,000 apiece.

This year's post-race musical headliner is Calvin Harris, one of the planet's most successful electronic music DJs who bears the distinction of being among Taylor Swift's many exes. Swift has a blank space in her schedule — she doesn't resume the international leg of her Eras Tour until February — and if she decides to pay her old beau a visit, she'll be in the company of stars, as past Pegasus attendees have included Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens, Vin Diesel, Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams, and Venus Williams, to name but a few.

The prospect of rubbing shoulders with such luminaries might entice some attendees to pay anywhere from $400 to $1,000 for access to various VIP areas, including the Flamingo Room, Ten Palms, and the Baccarat Garden at the Terrace Club. Those simply seeking a spot at the rail will still have to shell out the somewhat princely sum of $150 for admission, but the idea is to win that back on the track.

Pegasus World Cup. 10 a.m. Saturday, January 27, at Gulfstream Park, 901 S. Federal Hwy., Hallandale Beach; 954-454-7000; gulfstreampark.com. Tickets cost $175 to $600 via ticketmaster.com.