Pegasus Playbook – Going International

Courtesy Gulfstream Park

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, a private racing stable owned by Dean and Patti Reeves of Atlanta, Ga., is one of a dozen stakeholders in the $12-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, the world's richest horse race to be run Saturday, Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park.

The Reeves, who formed their stable in 2009 with trainer Kathy Ritvo and campaigned 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, are currently searching for a horse to contest the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus.

Dean Reeves has agreed to occasionally share his thoughts on the process of acquiring a participant for the Pegasus as well as participating in this unique event.

“In one of our regular owners update conference calls for the Pegasus World Cup, I learned that Mike Rogers and Tim Ritvo from The Stronach Group would be going to Japan on a business trip to attend the Champions Cup in December.

The Champions Cup is run for 3-year olds and older at a distance of 1,800 meters. In recent years, the race has followed the Japan Cup on the Japanese racing calendar. It is held at the Chukyo Racecourse.

The primary purpose of their trip was to meet the horse owners in the race and encourage them to consider racing in the Pegasus World Cup. The Japanese currently bet over $20 billion per year, and as a comparison, the U.S. bets only $10 billion per year, so if we could bring a Japanese horse to the Pegasus, the result would be an increased handle, which would benefit all stakeholders.

During that call the idea came to mind that I could tag along with them and be able to meet the owners of the horses in this race and talk about the Pegasus World Cup from a stakeholder's perspective.

So, I packed my bags, got clearance from my wife, and was off to Japan Nov. 29.

I cannot express to everyone how impressed I was with racing in Japan. The level of integrity, the first-class facilities; the manner in which they handled each race was just spectacular. In fact, I was overly impressed with the people of Japan in general. Their cities were clean, there is no graffiti, and I couldn't even find a pothole in the streets! I found everyone to be polite, respectful, and hard working.

I want to thank Atsushi Koya and Hiroshi Ito for their help and hospitality during our trip to Japan.

I encourage every owner, if you have a chance, to race your horse in Japan to consider doing so.

The race was won by Sound True, who beat Awardee by a half length. It was a solid field with multiple Grade I winners, including 2016 Triple Crown contender Lani.

We made the contacts, discussed the benefits and opportunities with several owners considering running in the Pegasus. At the time of this writing, we have not been able to secure a runner from Japan, but we are still working on it.

On the homefront . . .

There continues to be changes with certain horses that may be available, and the GIII Harlan's Holiday Saturday at Gulfstream Park has a good group of potential Pegasus runners.

We are also seeing several contenders working, and many seem to be coming into good form, so that is encouraging as well.”