Medaglia d'Oro's Spirit of St Louis Takes Flight In Pegasus World Cup Turf

01/25/2025 05:32 PM

A horse that frequently fires a big shot when fresh up, SPIRIT OF ST LOUIS (g, 6, Medaglia d'Oro–Khancord Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid) was steered off heels and widest in upper stretch and powered home down the center of the course to take out Saturday's $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The New York-bred, a 7-1 chance, broke fairly and took up a spot in the third flight of horses and sat a centerfield trip as the rail-drawn GI Hollywood Derby hero Formidable Man (City of Light) cut out the running from GI Woodbine Mile upsetter Win For the Money (Mohaymen) and they went quick early. Bottled up from mid-division down the back as postions remained unchanged up front, Spirit of St Louis raced in traffic and on hold rounding the second turn and was still short of running room as they neared the stretch. Tyler Gaffalione was able to extricate his mount shortly after entering the lane and steered Spirit of St Louis to the outside of the well-fancied Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro), with a clear shot if good enough. Integration (Quality Road) in the meantime made the lead relatively early beneath Frankie Dettori and carried the field deep into the final furlong, but was run down in the dying strides. The final time was a crisp 1:44.50 for the nine furlongs on fast turf. It was a third win in the race for trainer Chad Brown (Almanaar, Bricks and Mortar) and a third in the last 12 runnings for Medaglia d'Oro, whose 2014 winner Lochte was also out of a mare by the late Lemon Drop Kid. Sales history: $300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $280,000 HRA '23 KEENOV. Lifetime Record: 14-10-3-0. O-Madaket Stables LLC, Dubb, Michael and Schermerhorn, Richard; B-Chester R & Mary Broman (NY); T-Chad Brown.

#8 SPIRIT OF ST LOUIS ($17.80) got room late and got up just in time under a perfectly timed ride by @Tyler_Gaff to win the $1,000,000 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at @GulfstreamPark. The son of Medaglia d'Oro (@DarleyAmerica) is trained by Chad Brown. pic.twitter.com/f5mA6LL3Gd

— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) January 25, 2025

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