The $125,000 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park is Saturday, an unofficial beginning of the post-Triple Crown campaign for a newer group of 3-year-olds and a local prep for the $1 million Haskell Stakes (G1) on July 18.
The rest and recovery process has begun for racing’s brightest star, Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Golden Tempo, as well as many of the 3-year-olds who competed in the Derby preps, the Run for the Roses, the Preakness Stakes (G1), and last week’s Belmont at Saratoga.
The 1 1/16-mile Pegasus Stakes drew a field of six, led by 8-5 favorite Schoolyardsuperman for trainer Chad Brown and 5-1 Star Sweeper for Louis Linder, Jr. Whoever wins the race will collect a first career stakes victory. Top rider Flavien Prat, who won five graded stakes races last weekend at Saratoga, will be aboard Schoolyardsuperman.
There was a 3-year-old race of note on June 7, the day after the Belmont, with Further Ado winning the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs after running 11th in the Derby back on May 2.
A 3-year-old colt named Volponi won the 2001 Pegasus Handicap, a Grade 2 race going 1 3/8 miles at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It was just his third win in 14 career starts for Hall of Fame trainer P.G. Johnson.
No big deal, right? Wrong. As a 4-year-old, Volponi went on to win the Poker Handicap (G3) at Belmont Park, ran second three times in Grade 2 races, and third in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Handicap at Saratoga.
Feeling confident as he approached his 77th birthday, Johnson shelled out a $40,000 supplemental entry fee to get Volponi into the Breeders’ Cup with the chance to win the biggest race of his career.
Johnson entered his longshot colt in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Arlington Park just outside Chicago, where he first began training horses six decades earlier. And as the phrase goes, you can’t even lose if you don’t run.
Volponi, which means sly old fox in Italian, ran and didn’t lose. Under jockey Jose Santos, the colt – at 43-1 odds the longest shot in the field -- unleashed a powerful move to take charge at the top of the stretch, opened a commanding lead and drew off for a 6 ½-length romp. (Among the horses he defeated were Medaglia d’Oro and War Emblem).
Johnson, who was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1997, died in 2004.
Saturday’s Pegasus could be a springboard to the Haskell and perhaps a small step toward a future Breeders’ Cup race.
With no stakes winners in the field, Star Sweep is the most experienced with two wins and two seconds in eight starts. In his last race, the gray son of Rock Your World stumbled at the start but was only beaten by a head by Hedge Ratio in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth on May 10.
Schoolyardsuperman, in his most recent race on March 26 at Aqueduct, also finished second to Hedge Ridge, losing by a length in an optional claimer. With Prat in the irons for the first time, this gray son of Practical Joke may be ready to win.
Paco Lopez, riding a hot streak with 11 wins in his last 30 mounts from June 6-10, has the call aboard Baby Vino, who comes off a maiden at Oaklawn Park on May 1, at fifth asking for trainer Lindsay Schultz.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
