Arrogate “His Normal Self” at Gulfstream

Juddmonte Farms' champion Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) had his first spin around the Gulfstream Park oval in preparation for Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Wednesday morning, galloping a spirited 1 1/2 miles beneath exercise rider Dana Barnes. The 4-year-old Bob Baffert trainee was named the Longines World's Best Racehorse while in transit from California to Florida Tuesday. Following Arrogate's gallop, assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said he was pleased with the colt's first exercise over the surface.

“I saw his normal self,” said Barnes, watching Arrogate cool out in Barn 15, which houses local runners trained by Peter Walder and Fernando Abreu. “That's him, he carries himself well on a racetrack. My rider, Dana Barnes, said that he handled the track well and went over it good. From what I can see, I concur with that.”

When asked about potential challenges associated with shipping cross-country to Gulfstream, Barnes said that his routine remains more or less the same upon arrival. Barnes has logged many frequent flyer miles over the years, most notably accompanying 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) on his shipping assignments across the country. Nevertheless, Arrogate will be the Baffert barn's first starter at Gulfstream Park after a prolonged absence–something that Barnes attributed to geography and the GI Kentucky Derby trail.

“We have our spots that we go to, and there are a lot of other places that are closer that we ship to,” he explained. “That's probably why our 3-year-old campaign usually goes through [Oaklawn Park in] Arkansas. It's such a short trip. And at that time of year, you want to take it as easy as possible on the horse. Going 2 1/2 hours to Arkansas is nothing. Here, it's four hours one way, and it could be six hours the other way.”

Similarly, Barnes said that the warm climate in South Florida and a nearly three-month gap following Arrogate's last race–a win in the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Classic–should play to his favor. The gray has worked eight times since his win over California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in the World Championships, including a recent string of four consecutive six-furlong works at Santa Anita Park.

“This horse does well with time between races,” Barnes observed. “We can train him up to a race and he'll handle it fine. It is January, so if we were shipping elsewhere, we could get weather to worry about. Here, this is similar to California [normally].”

While California has been drenched with an atypically high amount of rainfall this winter, there is no significant precipitation in the local forecast in the coming days. Barnes said that Arrogate will follow a similar routine Thursday morning and likely school in the paddock during one of Gulfstream's early races in the afternoon.