There is a huge night of horse racing at Gulfstream Park on Saturday as some of the finest horses around descend on Florida and we’re taking a look at the Pegasus World Cup 2022 entries.
It promises to be a barnstormer of a main event in the feature Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes as the all-conquering Knicks Go attempts to finish his career on a high and faces off against Life Is Good, who blitzed his way to Breeders’ Cup success in the autumn.
Both like to go hard from the front and it could be a case of last man standing as the defending champion looks to hold off the pretender to his crown in the race for a $3million first prize.
Knicks Go made every yard of the 1m 1f trip to scoop the first prize 12 months ago and was even eased down in the closing stages by his big-race jockey Joel Rosario, such was the facile nature of his victory.
Brad Cox’s charge arrives here unbeaten in four following his all-the-way victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar and the horse who ended 2021 as the highest-rated in the world is looking for one last hurrah on the track before heading off to stud to begin stallion duties.
Life Is Good has only tasted defeat once in a five-race career and that came by just a nose margin in the Grade One H Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes at Saratoga last summer.
The son of Into Mischief twice accounted for Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit as a three-year-old and arrives here in search of a hat-trick having backed up his Belmont Kelso Handicap victory in the Dirt Mile at Del Mar.
He was simply unstoppable as he obliged favourite backers in that Breeders’ Cup contest, scorching the best part of six lengths clear of the trailing opposition.
The four-year-old now has a real chance to give trainer Todd Pletcher a first victory in this valuable Grade One contest.
However, we’re sticking with 2.0 market leader Knicks Go to just hold off 2.25 second favourite Life Is Good in our Pegasus World Cup 2022 picks.
Sir Winston the liveliest longshot
Knicks Go and Life is Good are dominating the Pegasus World Cup betting and the rest in the line-up appear to be playing for scraps.
However, the best of the opposition could turn out to be 17.0 chance Sir Winston, who was a winner over 1m 4f at Woodbine last time and could use that stamina to stay on for a place off a hot pace here.
New York handler Pletcher has a strong hand in the supporting Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes with his defending champion Colonel Liam heading the market at 3.75 from stablemate Never Surprised.
Elsewhere in the line-up, regular rivals Field Pass and Sacred Life do battle once again and have a respectable chance of landing the spoils.
There are seven Graded races in total on the card and recent course winner Sweet Melania could give Pletcher more joy to shout about if taking the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
However, Chad Brown’s Regal Glory has won two of her last three and could prove a tough nut to crack following her from-the-front win in the Grade One Matriarch Stakes in November.
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