White Abarrio continues dominance at Gulfstream, runs away with Pegasus World Cup Invitational

White Abarrio, a horse who covets the racing soil at Gulfstream Park, turned his stomping ground into a romping ground Saturday.

The gray 6-year-old didn’t just win the richest thoroughbred race in Florida — the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational. He won it for fun, rolling to a never-in-doubt victory over Locked, with Skippylongstocking far back in third.

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was in command of the race from the top of the stretch to the wire, blowing past early front-runner Saudi Crown and distancing himself from everyone else in the field of 11.

Winning trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. — Gulfstream’s leading trainer — was in tears in the immediate aftermath of his horse’s big victory.

“The horse, he showed he was going to do it for us today,” Joseph said. “When he got back to Florida, he really changed when he got back.”

Joseph trained White Abarrio to a Florida Derby victory in 2022 before owners C2 Racing Stable and Prince Faisal bin Kh turned him over to a different trainer.

But once the horse was returned to Joseph last summer, the horse blossomed back to his old self.

“He was edgy, and mentally he wasn’t there,” Joseph said of White Abarrio when he returned to his barn. “It took a while to get him back. We got back to Florida and I feel like he got back to his groove.”

While White Abarrio won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in California, it’s Florida’s Gulfstream Park where he shines best.

With Saturday’s win in the 1 1/8-mile stakes, White Abarrio improved to seven victories and a second in nine career races at Gulfsream, where his lone off-the-board finish came in the 2023 Pegasus when he finished eighth.

The victory also elevated his career earnings total to more than $7 million, not too shabby for a horse that sold at auction for $40,000 as a 2-year-old.

Saturday’s race unfolded as expected, with Saudi Crown and jockey Florent Geroux cruising to the front, as 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Stronghold settled close behind in stalking position.

But White Abarrio was also within close range, and when Ortiz asked the horse to make his move in the final turn, it took little time to corral the front-runner — and then blow past for a 6¼-length victory.

The rest of the field was no match.

Mystik Dan, who has not won a race since the Derby in May, ended up finishing ahead of only two other horses.

In other prominent stakes Saturday at Gulfstream:

▪ Spirit of St. Louis charged late to win the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, overtaking Integration nearing the wire to win the 1 1/8-mile turf stakes.

Tyler Gaffalione rode the winner for trainer Chad Brown, with Chasing the Crown finishing third.

Spirit of St. Louis, a 6-year-old New York-bred gelding, raced in midpack before unleashing a stretch kick to win the Grade I event for owners Madaket Stables LLC, Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn.

▪ Be Your Best notched her third straight victory in the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational, barely holding on to defeat fast-closing Sacred Wish by a neck.

Each of the victories during the mare’s winning streak have been close calls, none of them by more than a length.

The Irish-bred mare, which is owned by Michael J. Ryan, was ridden by Edgard Zayas for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

▪ Another Joseph-trained horse, Mystic Lake, won the Inside Information stakes for owner C2 Racing Stable LLC and Stefania Farms. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode the winner.