Fresh off his 2017 Horse of the Year win at the Eclipse Awards, Gun Runner took the world’s richest horse race, the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, on January 28th, at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida.
The win, and the $7 million winner’s purse, was an excellent send off for the five-year-old champion, who will now be retired to stud. He finishes a stellar career with more than $15 million in winnings.
With Florent Geroux in the irons, Gun Runner broke from 10th position with ease, and pulled into second behind Collected, at the first turn. He picked up the pace in the backstretch and outran them all, including challenger, West Coast, ridden by Javier Castellano, who settled for second, and Gunnevera, ridden by Luis Saez, in third.
Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm, Gun Runner was trained by Steve Asmussen. Gun Runner was heavily favoured to win the second edition of Frank Stronach’s unique race. The inaugural running was won by Arrogate, and featured prize money of $12 million.
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
