Program Trading leads a deep field in Pegasus Turf on Saturday, courtesy of Gulfstream Park
Gulfstream Park Press
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Klaravich Stable Program tradinga three-time Grade 1 winner of nearly $1.6 million in prize money from 10 starts, was installed as the 5-2 morning favorite for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) during Sunday’s post-position draw at the Carousel Club at Gulfstream Park.
Program Trading and jockey Flavien Prat scored Post 2 against 11 rivals in the eighth running of the Pegasus Turf for 4-year-olds and up on Saturday, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the turf as part of a blockbuster program featuring 10 stakes, seven grades, worth $5.675 million in purses.
Program Trading, a 6-year-old porpoise bred in England, has been out of the race since finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, just his third start of 2025 after more than a year between races. He also placed second in both the Bernard Baruch at Saratoga and the Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland.
Program Trading won the Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1) and Hollywood Derby (G1) as a three-year-old in 2023, and the Turf Classic (G1) in one of only two starts as a four-year-old in 2024. He has been off the board just twice, with five wins and three seconds for trainer Chad Brown.
Brown won the inaugural Pegasus Turf with subsequent Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in 2019, also for Klaravich, and again last winter with Spirit of St Louis. He is one of three two-time Pegasus Turf-winning trainers in the field, along with Mike Maker and Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.
Pletcher, the only consecutive winner of the Pegasus Turf with Colonel Liam in 2021 and 2022, is represented by the winning millionaire from Spendthrift Farm Major Guy (Post 7, 8-1, Irad Ortiz Jr.), one of three horses returning from last year’s race after finishing sixth, was beaten by three lengths. The six-year-old has two wins and two seconds in six career tries on the Gulfstream turf.
Maker won the Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha in 2020 and Atone in 2023. This year he sends out Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher and Angelo Carlesimo’s Millionaire On the hunt for the Crown (Post 9, 20-1, Joel Rosario), who finished third in 2025. The 7-year-old is chasing his first victory after placing twice ahead of last year’s race.
Grade 1 Test Score winner and South African Group 1 winner One stripe will try out the Pegasus Turf for trainer Graham Motion. The 4-year-old homebred Amerman Racing Test score (Post 1, 8-1, Manuel Franco) captured the Belmont Derby (G1) to open his 2025 season and finished third by a half-length in the Nov. 29 Hollywood Derby (G1).
Hollywood Racing and Rikesh Sewgoolam’s 5-year-old South African-bred colt One Stripe (Post 4, 12-1, Gavin Lerena) won the Group 1 stakes in his native country to close out 2024 and start 2025, earning his first North American win in his third attempt in a one-mile optional claim fee on Dec. 26 on the Gulfstream turf.
Also with two starters is Hall of Fame coach Shug McGaughey, who has that Cousin And Fort Washington. The 5-year-old Cugino of West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig Racing (Post 10, 7-2, John Velazquez) was riding a modest two-race win streak when he finished second by less than a length in Gulfstream’s Pegasus Turf prep, the Dec. 20 Fort Lauderdale (G3).
Magic Cap Stables’ 7-year-old Fort Washington (Post 12, 10-1, Junior Alvarado) is one of six millionaires in the Pegasus Turf after finishing fifth in last year’s race. He became a Grade 1 winner in the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs last summer, one of four career graded victories.
The Pegasus Turf field is completed by the millionaire from Kretz Racing Cape Spirit (Post 8, 8-1, Mike Smith); Grade 2 Winner of Savio-Cannon Thoroughbreds Call sign seven (Post 6, 15-1, Ricardo Gonzalez); CYBT, McLean Racing Stables, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig and Ray Pagano’s Almendares (Post 5, 20-1, Umberto Rispoli); Alice Bamford and Michael Tabor Astronomer (Post 11, 15-1, Jose Ortiz) and JSM Equine’s Beach gold (Post 3, 15-1, David Egan) – all stakes winners who posted multiple graduated stakes.
Balnikhov of Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables and Old Bones Racing Stable (30-1, Rispoli) is the only eligible.
#PEGASUS #PEAT #TRADING #DATA #PROGRAM