Pegasus World Cup Odds and Contenders
Spun to Run – US Racing Photo
Spun to Run, the second choice on the morning line at odds of 7-2, has been scratched from Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup because of soreness, according to training Juan Carlos Guerrero.
Spun to Run won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in an upset of Omaha Beach, who is now the even-money favorite in the 1 1/8-mile World Cup after the odds were changed on Thursday morning.
“After he came to Palm Meadows (raining Center) we noticed he was a little hot so we clipped his hair,” said Guerrero. “Then two weeks later we noticed some spots, hives on his body. We wanted to run, but he’s a little hot and sore and we always want to do the right thing for the horse. It’s unfortunate, but we want the best for him.”
Spun to Run had come a long way in a short time. He was virtually unknown last spring. He didn’t win until his fifth start and didn’t face top 3-year-olds until he ran a distant third to Maximum Security at odds of 34-1 in the Haskell (G1). Won a weak Grade 3 at Parx before finishing fifth in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1).
Spun to Run has been surging since. He crushed an ungraded mile stakes at Parx before emerging as a serious horse in the BC Dirt Mile at Santa Anita. The 9-1 shot led throughout and beat odds-on Omaha Beach by 2¾ lengths. He ran big again in the Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct, pushing Maximum Security hard and finishing second by 3½ lengths.
He breezed 4 furlongs in 47.41 seconds at Palm Meadows on Tuesday, four days after superstar Irad Ortiz, Jr. jumped off him to ride Mucho Gusto for Bob Baffert in the Pegasus.
Perhaps Ortiz is trying to establish a long-term connection with a Hall of Famer who could put him on other top stakes mounts.
Hall of Famer Javier Castellano was scheduled to ride Spun to Run.
Spun to Run
Odds: Scratched
Post position: Scratched
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Trainer: Juan Carlos Guerrero
Owner: Robert P. Donaldson
Career record: 12-5-2-3
Career earnings: $1,160,520
Pedigree: Hard Spun-Yawkey Way, by Grand Slam
Age: 4
Running style: Speed/stalker
Notes: Guerrero, born in Mexico City, came to the United States when he was 14. He lied about his age so he could work at the old Garden State Park, where he was a groom and exercise rider … He’s a high-percentage, low-profile trainer based at Parx, near Philadelphia. Spun to Run is his first graded-stakes winner in a career that began in 1991, and Guerrero’s lifetime win rate is an outstanding 20 percent. Last year was one of his best – 51-for-258 (20 percent) – with earnings of $2.4 million … Owner Donaldson on why he hired Guerrero: “I knew he was doing really well at Parx, and I know that Carlos can read a horse and really get inside their head.”
| PP | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | ML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | True Timber | Joe Bravo | Kiaran McLaughlin | 15-1 |
| 2 | Tax | Jose Ortiz | Danny Gargan | 8-1 |
| 3 | Diamond Oops | Julien Leparoux | Patrick Biancone | 15-1 |
| 4 | Seeking the Soul | John Velazquez | Dallas Stewart | 30-1 |
| 5 | Omaha Beach (SCR) | Mike Smith | Richard Mandella | SCR |
| 6 | Higher Power | Flavien Prat | John Sadler | 6-1 |
| 7 | War Story | Joel Rosario | Elizabeth Dobles | 30-1 |
| 8 | Mr Freeze | Luis Saez | Dale Romans | 20-1 |
| 5 | Spun to Run (SCR) | Javier Castellano | Juan Carlos Guerrero | SCR |
| 10 | Mucho Gusto | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Bob Baffert | 9-2 |
| 11 | Tenfold | Tyler Gaffalione | Steve Asmussen | 30-1 |
| 12 | Bodexpress | Emisael Jaramillo | Gustavo Delgado | 30-1 |
Find more Pegasus World Cup 2020 and Pegasus World Cup Turf 2020 Contenders Profile here:
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