As much as it is still a grade 2 test, the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G2T) surely has a grade 1 feel.
With a $500,000 purse, it's a lucrative enough stakes to keep top level female turfers in training during January.
Or, in the case of Sacred Wish, to mine stellar form one more time before taking a short break.
The versatile 5-year-old Not This Time mare posted a breakthrough win for trainer George Weaver last time out when, after placing in six graded stakes on dirt and turf, she notched that initial graded win at a highly opportune time, taking the $303,000 Matriarch Stakes (G1T) Dec. 1 at Del Mar, one of the year's premier stakes for turf females.
"It was a really nice win in the Matriarch and we are looking forward to the Pegasus," Weaver said. "She's doing really well and we expect her to run well. She's pretty consistent. She's always right there."
No worse than fourth in her last 10 starts, Sacred Wish will try to extend that streak Jan. 25 when she breaks from post 10 in an original field of 14 (with two also-eligible entrants) for the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
Bred by John Penn in Kentucky out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Wish, Sacred Wish is that rare runner who is a grade 1 winner on turf and also grade 1-placed on dirt as she finished second in the 2023 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at the same nine-furlong distance as the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
After finishing seventh in the 2023 Alabama Stakes (G1), Weaver shifted her to turf where she began her streak of consistency with a win in the grassy 2023 Winter Memories Stakes. Nearly a millionaire with earnings of $985,138, she has earned $766,038 of that total from her 10 turf starts for the ownership group of Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson, Christopher Dunn, and Anthony Spinazzola.
Though she has only raced as far on turf as a mile and an eighth once—finishing second to grade 1 winner Beaute Cachee in the Matchmaker Stakes (G3T)—Weaver believes the distance of Saturday's race will not pose a problem for her.
"I don't think the distance will be an issue. A mile and a sixteenth probably is right in her wheelhouse and she was second on dirt in a grade 1 at a mile and an eighth," Weaver said about the mare who was bought for $50,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale from the Cary Frommer consignment. "Turf racing is about the trip, so, like everybody else, we're hoping for a smooth trip."
One race that did not go as anticipated for Sacred Wish was the Goldikova Stakes (G3T), her start before the Matriarch. She was third after being boxed in and caught behind a slow pace as fellow Filly and Mare Turf starter Raqiya cruised along on the front end. Raqiya, owned by Shadwell Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher, slowed the pace down to 1:13.41 for six furlongs and won by a length and a half, completing the mile race in 1:36.09.
The homebred daughter of Blue Point has not raced since the Nov. 2 Goldikova at Del Mar, which was the 4-year-old's first American start.
She will break from the rail in Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.
Saturday's race will also mark the American debut of the Chilean star Dona Clota.
Owned by Resolute Racing and now trained by Ignacio Correas IV, the 4-year-old daughter of Ivan Denisovich won her last three starts in her native Chile, including grade 1 turf stakes in her last two tries.
For Head of Plains Partners' durable Fluffy Socks, the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf will mark her 31st career start and her 24th appearance in a graded stakes.
The 7-year-old homebred Slumber mare was eighth in the Goldikova but was third in the 2024 First Lady Stakes (G1T) before that.
She has a 6-9-5 record in her 30 starts for trainer Chad Brown for earnings of $1,379,565. The multiple grade 2 winner has appeared in nine straight graded stakes and was fourth in last year's Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.
"She does seem to be training well. She has been a very consistent horse for us, a barn favorite. When she is on her game and gets the right pace and fires, she can be competitive all the way to the grade 1 level. We are hoping for an effort like that. It's going to come down to whether there is a fast enough pace in front of her," Brown said. "I am hoping she has her day in this race. Although it's not a grade 1 yet, it's a very prominent race. I would love to see her grab it."
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 25, 2025, Race 10Entries: TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational S. presented by SirDavis American Whisky (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Raqiya (IRE) Lanfranco Dettori 120 Todd A. Pletcher 4/1 2 2Pounce (KY) Dylan Davis 120 Mark E. Casse 15/1 3 3Be Your Best (IRE) Edgard J. Zayas 120 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 6/1 4 4Watchtower (KY) Umberto Rispoli 120 Richard Baltas 20/1 5 5Fluffy Socks (KY) Luis Saez 120 Chad C. Brown 5/1 6 6Dona Clota (CHI) Jose L. Ortiz 123 Ignacio Correas IV 15/1 7 7Minoushka (GB) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Brendan P. Walsh 10/1 8 8Papilio (IRE) Javier Castellano 118 Mark E. Casse 8/1 9 9Ocean Club (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 120 Jack Sisterson 15/1 10 10Sacred Wish (KY) John R. Velazquez 123 George Weaver 9/2 11 11Bless My Stars (SAF) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Todd A. Pletcher 8/1 12 12See You Around (IRE) Oisin Murphy 118 Christophe Clement 20/1 13 13In Our Time (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 118 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 20/1 14 14De Regreso (KY) John R. Velazquez 118 Antonio Sano 30/1
