Preview of Pegasus World Cup & Harland's Holiday Race

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00:00Let's get right on into our horse-by-horse preview.

00:06What they're calling this weekend, Alexa, is the Pegasus World Cup Preview Day, because

00:11in just a month, one of the bigger racing days of the year is the Pegasus World Cup

00:15Day at Goldstream Park.

00:16So this race we're going to look at, race number nine on Saturday at Goldstream, it's

00:20the Grade 3 Harlins Holiday, it's kind of a prep for that race.

00:24We're going to see most likely a few horses from here that show back up in that big race,

00:29the Pegasus World Cup, in just a month towards the end of January, and one horse that is

00:34really interesting is Tuscan Sky, the number one.

00:37This is a horse who has only raced six times in his career, his ceiling is so high, his

00:43upside is so high, he's kind of been his own worst enemy.

00:45He's one of those horses who I think is a little tough to ride and maybe a little tough

00:48to train, but when he shows up with a good performance, he is really good.

00:53If he wins this race, I mean, he would be one of the favorites going into the Pegasus

00:57World Cup, and he could have an awesome 2025 as one of the top older horses.

01:01What do you think about Tuscan Sky in here?

01:03I agree, this would really be a way to kind of set him off and launch him into next year's

01:08career, but key player, I think will be vying for the lead with the two Tumarumba.

01:13You know, experienced stakes runner, one half of those lifetime starts, Grade 1, Grade 2

01:18are a little bit tougher, but I feel like this field is a really good fit for him, a

01:23really good chance for him to get back to the winner's circle, but a lot's going to

01:26be determined on if we have a big pace duel or not up at the front.

01:30And one of those horses who might be pushing the pace up in the front is the number two

01:33Tumarumba, who is really honest.

01:37He's a Grade 3 winner.

01:38He's going to make his third start off the form cycle, but he is 0 for his last five.

01:43If you want to talk about what his best game is, though, going about this distance, like

01:47a mile to a mile and a sixteenth at Gulfstream, that's where he's really good.

01:51And he's a fighter.

01:52He does not like to get past.

01:54Yeah, he's so seasoned, too, you know, really experienced horse and run against super tough.

01:58I mean, his most recent start was in the Breeders' Cup dirt mile where he got fourth out of a

02:03field of 13.

02:04You know, he's usually on or near that lead, but also we've seen him come from off the

02:08pace.

02:09So I do think of the field, he's probably one of the most versatile horses in here.

02:14Gotten first or second in 11 of a 17 start.

02:16So I mean, this is not one to sleep on.

02:19And number three, Cape Trafalgar, has been sprinting in his last couple.

02:22He's now going to stretch out.

02:24He actually broke his maiden going a mile in the slop at Gulfstream Park, and he's won

02:28two of his three career races at Gulfstream Park.

02:31He'll make his first try, though, against Stakes Company.

02:33I think he'll be forwardly placed.

02:34You can see him on the chicklets there.

02:35He's kind of in the top four.

02:37But do you like him in here?

02:38It's kind of a tough spot for him to have to stretch out and face a tough group.

02:42It is an interesting placement.

02:43He's actually the first of three for Safi Joseph in here.

02:46I think he's probably the best from his barn out of those three and has Hall of Fame jockey

02:50Ira riding, who did ride him to victory at Keeneland.

02:55You know, speed figure wise, the horse is a little bit inconsistent, does seem to be

02:58improving, but this is a big ask for him.

03:01He's never faced this competition.

03:02So I like him as like a long shot underneath play.

03:07I mean, it's six to one.

03:08So kind of a decent medium long shot that can hit the board, but probably not to win

03:12for me.

03:13And number four, digital ops is a horse who won last time out at Aqueduct.

03:18I can't get a real feel for this one though, Alexa, because his two wins have been when

03:22he was right on the front end and I don't, and those races, they went a lot slower early

03:27than they'll probably go in here.

03:28I don't know if he's fast enough to get the lead.

03:30So I'm kind of having a tough time placing him in here, you know, time from us has him

03:34sitting forth or so I guess that's accurate.

03:37I'm just, I'm not that all that high on him.

03:39I need to see kind of different tactics from him.

03:42I completely agree.

03:43There was a big bias for those wins.

03:45So I'm, I'm thinking they might not been as quite as good as they looked.

03:49Um, again, another one from the Safi barn, he's a younger horse in the field, I'm at

03:54three years old.

03:55So it's going to be, it's going to be a tough ask.

03:57I'm going to leave him off this time.

03:58So as we are looking at these time form us past performances, we actually have an offer

04:03for some of you out there.

04:05These are one of the types of past performances you can get with the all access past performances.

04:10You can look at classic, which are the traditional style that people see in the daily racing

04:14form in the print form.

04:16You can get the all access PPS, the formulator PPS, which I really love because you can click

04:21and watch race replays, get into charts and all sorts of different stuff, or the ones

04:25we've been just looking at time form us.

04:27How do they get those Alexa?

04:29Yeah.

04:30So you can scan the QR code on your screen or you can use the code at DRF S G PPS, DRF

04:35S G PPS to get your free card.

04:38Well, let's move back to the second half of the field for the Harlins holiday.

04:42We're going to get to the number five in here.

04:44I thought it was an interesting long shot because this is a horse who we have probably

04:48followed from up at Woodbine was trying to get into the King's plate, which is their

04:51Kentucky Derby up in Canada.

04:53And he was doing a lot of his work on the synthetic surfaces.

04:56And when he went to the dirt for the first time, he won the Prince of Wales, which is

05:00like the Canadian Preakness race.

05:01That was his first start on the dirt.

05:03He's been really good in his three starts on the dirt.

05:05He'll probably need to step up.

05:07But if I'm looking for a horse at the bottom of the tries or supers, I would be fine throwing

05:11him in at a big price.

05:13I agree.

05:14There's some upside with that surface switch where we just saw, you know, a lot more talent.

05:18But I mean, this is a huge ask from a pretty low percent trainer.

05:22So I just think he'd need like a really monumental improvement to make an impact here.

05:27You know, fun fact, the owner of this horse is actually the same family who owns Gulfstream

05:31Park itself.

05:32So I have a lot of people there cheering for him.

05:34And their stable used to be really hot, over $100 million in earnings.

05:38But over the recent years, they've kind of tapered off a little bit more.

05:41So not a huge connection play there anymore.

05:44The number six Steel Sunshine will come from off the pace.

05:49He got a really nice prep race last time out.

05:51It was his first start since June.

05:53And when you think about Gulfstream Park going a mile in the 16th, well, this is where Steel

05:58Sunshine fits really, really well.

06:00I could see him running a big race in here, Alexa.

06:03I think he's one of the major players, and if they go fast early on, he could really

06:07mow them all down late.

06:08Totally.

06:09I mean, I'm talking about this pace duel up front, you know, with the one and the two.

06:12So if that just has a total meltdown, I mean, he will be there at the end.

06:18He's running a ton of graded stakes and only been able to get the win once, but it was

06:21at Gulfstream earlier this year.

06:23And actually six of his seven wins have been over Gulfstream.

06:26So he likes this place.

06:27This is this is his happy place.

06:31Can had his big win in the grade three Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park last year, and he

06:37was on the Kentucky Derby trail, and I was really looking forward to seeing him as a

06:41four-year-old.

06:42He hasn't really progressed, though, all that much, Alexa.

06:44He hasn't taken the steps forward as much as I wanted.

06:46What do you think about Rocket Canning here?

06:48Yeah, a really exciting horse, you know, but made that Kentucky Derby start and then split

06:53the field and was off for a year.

06:55So maybe there was an injury or something going on, and since then just hasn't progressed

06:58like we want to see.

06:59So I'm going to pass Super Corinto, the number eight rounds out the field.

07:04This is an Argentinian bred who was racing in Chile back in 2022, came over to the US

07:10at the end of 2022 and ran a couple of really good races at Gulfstream Park.

07:14So good that they thought to try him in the Dubai World Cup.

07:17But after that race, he just hasn't been the same.

07:20Was it something that happened in the travel?

07:22He just really hasn't been back to his best form.

07:25Yeah, he also had that year off after all that travel.

07:28So, you know, I'm worried that his glory days are in the past and I'm pretty sure the

07:34result of this race is probably just going to reinforce that.

07:36So I've left him off too.

07:37Let's take a look at our selections here, Alexa, for this one, a couple of really nice

07:42horses in this field with Tuscan Sky, with Tomba Rumba, Steel Sunshine are horses who

07:47are all really capable.

07:49We have them in the mix there, but talk to us real quick about how you laid it out.

07:53Yeah, I have Tomba Rumba on top, followed by Steel Sunshine, Tuscan Sky, and then that

07:58medium long shot Cape Trafalgar.

08:00I thought you might be able to get a little value there with Steel Sunshine.

08:03I feel like Tuscan Sky is the one with the most upside.

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