GIII Pegasus Stakes

$100.000 Dirt Stake At 1 1/16th Mile For Three Year Olds

2016 Champ: Reindeer

The feature race on Sunday afternoon at MTH is the GIII Pegasus Stakes. It will feature six three year old colt and geldings all looking for their first graded stakes score which should make for a fun competitive race. Lets take a look at this field.

1- Gods Gold — Trained by Riggins Racing, Ridden by Castro Ed

Starting from the rail will be Gods Gold. His last time out he was finally able to break his maiden in a Cal bred maiden special weight. Before that he ran a solid seventh in the GII LA Derby. All signs show him liking these type of distances and looks like he will fit in with the types in this race.

2- Belief — Trained by Mb Stables, Ridden by Gallardo A A

A late blooming three year old, Belief looks like he has found his stride and will make his stake debut in the Pegasus. He comes in with a two race win streak, his most recent start a very impressive dead heat win at WO. That dead heat was with talented four year old runner Rising Light who has over $800.000 in career earnings. He looks ready to win again after showing what he can do last time out.

3- King Death Row — Trained by Aer Stables, Ridden by Bravo J

Aer Stables will send out King Death Row. He is the most experienced when it comes to running against stake and graded stake competition. He has a NY bred stake win on his resume but has not been able to find the winners circle in open company. He will hopefully be able to place himself a little closer to the pace in this one as he has struggled to close as of late. If he can do that he has the talent to win.

4- Stanford — Trained by Alydar Stables, Ridden by Juarez N

Stanford has had a very frustrating start to his 2017 campaign as he made multiple attempts against graded ranks with little to no success. In his most recent start he dropped down to an allowance race at PRX as a confidence booster. That also failed as he was only able to finish third in a four horse race. Doesn’t look like he is ready to turn it around so will be avoiding him at the windows.

5- Evil Kavorka — Trained by Smokey Stover, Ridden by Gonzales J J

The connections may be doing the rain dance tonight as Evil Kavorka ran great in the slop for the Day Mile at CD last time out. Even without the off track he is a contender in this race though. This distance should suit him just fine and expect him to run well this weekend, if Belief can’t handle the bright lights for his first try Evil is the most likely to take home the title.

6- Strategic Command — Trained by John Henry, Ridden by Ferrer J C

Rounding out the field is Strategic Command. Out of big time sire Commanding he comes into the race with be expectations that he has not been able to live up to yet. The one thing going for him coming into the race is his recent works suggest his connections may have found something that works. His works are improving and could be a sign of things to come. He may like a longer distance so not sure this is the right spot for him but could be one to watch.

My Selection: 2/5/1

Categories: Grade III