May 12, 2016 
Millionaires, billionaires and gazillionaires of all ages…grab your fastest thoroughbred, a $1 million check and your finest panama hat and head down to Gulfstream Park on January 28, 2017, for the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup!
Frank Stronach announced yesterday that his dream of hosting the world’s richest horse race at his very own Gulfstream Park is now officially on the books for 2017. The $12 million prize would usurp the $10 million Dubai Word Cup as the fattest purse on the planet.
“The Pegasus World Cup will be conducted to the highest standards,” said Stronach, “and will held on Saturday January 28th, thereby avoiding a conflict with either the Breeders’ Cup or the Dubai World Cup.”
The 1-1/8 mile will be contested on the dirt and open to horses from around the world…as long as owners cough up a $1 million entry fee, and, according to the press release:
The entrant can then race, lease, contract or share a starter or sell their place in the starting gate. Original entrants will also have the first option to participate in future Pegasus World Cup races. All entrants will not only be competing for the world’s largest purse but they will also share equally in 100% of the net income from handle, media rights, and sponsorships from the Pegasus World Cup.
So plenty of added juice on the line to entice the especially bold and/or ballin’.
The newly completed 112 ft. high Pegasus statue at Gulfstream Park is perfectly over-the-top. Photo via Gulfstream Park
It’s certainly a shrewd marketing ploy from a savvy deal maker in Stronach. As Ray Paulick also notes, it’s a spectacle reminiscent of horse racing’s heyday, when the best horses were owned by exceedingly wealthy individuals more concerned with the prestige of owning the fastest horse as opposed to acquiring lucrative breeding rights and cultivating big sticker sales stock.
Purists will cringe at the spectacle of it all, but behind the grandiose sales speak, Stronach has been quite a boon to the sport. His Stronach Group has invested heavily in practically every facet of the industry, and all but bailed out Maryland horse racing with its 2002 acquisition of Pimlico and Laurel Park.
There are still a lot of questions to iron out and it’s hard to imagine the late January date will attract much international interest since most top runners are traditionally given the winter months off, but it’s a start. Now it’s just a matter of filling the slots.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Your move, Dubai.
