In the days leading up to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, usracing.com is publishing profiles of the horses in the race set for Saturday, Jan. 29.
By Ray Wallin
Commandeer – Palm Meadows Training Center – Photo courtesy of Dana Wimpfheimer / BloodHorse
This Godolphin bred gelding drew into the Pegasus field as the longest shot on the board for his first try against stakes company after clearing the non-winners of two hurdle in his last effort over a sloppy Churchill track.
All three of his wins have come against an early pace that has been contested and fallen apart. Commandeer has won his last two since coming off a four-month layoff.
A son of Street Boss, whose progeny typically top out at a mile and a sixteenth, does have a Tiznow influence on his dam’s side. This suggests that Commandeer should be able to handle the nine furlongs here.
Trainer Jimmy Toner has Commandeer at the top of his form. Since his last allowance win, he has notched five workouts over the Palm Meadows surface including a bullet work on Jan. 23, breezing 5 furlongs in 59.3 seconds in his final prep for the Pegasus.
Betting advice: While not a candidate to win, his best opportunity to be a factor here is if there is a hot and contested early pace between Knicks Go and Life Is Good. His late kick from off the pace should not be ignored for the bottom of your exotic wagers.
Post position: 9
Odds: 30-1
Jockey: Julien Leparoux
Trainer: Jimmy Toner
Owner: AJ Suited Racing Stable, LLC
Career record: 10-3-2-2
Career earnings: $142,114
Top Equibase speed figure: 99
Pedigree: Street Boss-Gozlan, by Tiznow
Age: 4
Color: Bay
Running style: Presser/stalker
Notes: Commandeer is Toner’s first Pegasus World Cup starter … Leparoux is the 10th jockey to ride this gelding, who is making his 11th career start at his seventh different track.
Ray Wallin is a licensed civil engineer and part-time handicapper who has had a presence on the Web since 2000 for various sports and horse racing websites and through his personal blog. Introduced to the sport over the course of a misspent teenage summer at Monmouth Park by his Uncle Dutch, a professional gambler, he quickly fell in love with racing and has been handicapping for over 25 years.
Ray’s background in engineering, along with his meticulous nature and fascination with numbers, parlay into his ability to analyze data; keep records; notice emerging trends; and find new handicapping angles and figures. While specializing in thoroughbred racing, Ray also handicaps harness racing, Quarter Horse racing, baseball, football, hockey, and has been rumored to have calculated the speed and pace ratings on two squirrels running through his backyard.
Ray likes focusing on pace and angle plays while finding the middle ground between the art and science of handicapping. When he is not crunching numbers, Ray enjoys spending time with his family, cheering on his alma mater (Rutgers University), fishing, and playing golf.
Ray’s blog, which focuses on his quest to make it to the NHC Finals while trying to improve his handicapping abilities can be found at www.jerseycapper.blogspot.com Ray can also be found on Twitter (@rayw76) and can be reached via email at ray.wallin@live.com.