White Abarrio Takes Major Step Toward $3M Pegasus (G1)

Video: Defending Champ Sharp in Half-Mile Breeze Sunday Morning

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa’s White Abarrio took a major step toward making a title defense in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 24 with a strong breeze Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park that thrilled his connections.

With exercise rider Vicente Gudiel aboard, the 7-year-old multiple Grade 1 winner worked a half-mile over a fast main track in 47.88 seconds in company with 4-year-old maidens Jaker and Souffle On Fire. The time ranked fifth of 58 horses at the distance.

Work Video: Click here to view

It was the second work of the new year for White Abarrio, who previously went three furlongs in 40.23 seconds Jan. 4.

“His last breeze kind of got messed up. He went a little slower than what we wanted,” C2’s Mark Cornett said. “This one here went perfect by design. The horse wanted to do it. He was happy all the way around there, so we’re very pleased with it.

“He’ll probably come back with another five-eighths [work] and then he’ll be ready to run in the Pegasus,” he added. “We feel just as good now after this is out of the way, similar [to] the way we did before we went into last year’s race. It’s very good to get him back on track like this.”

White Abarrio started off behind his workmates before moving up alongside rounding the far turn and effortlessly cruising past under a hand ride once straightened for home, galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.31.

“That was the plan, to work a decent half, 48 and change ideally. He went a little quicker, 47 and change, but the next eighth it was important that he galloped out and then after that shut him down,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He pulled up good, came back good and we’re on the right path.

“The work kind of set him up for building his confidence and building our confidence,” he added. “We’re not asking him, he’s doing everything on his own. We wanted horses to carry him into this work instead of working him solo. He went his last quarter in :23 and two and finished up good, sat behind horses, waited and took dirt and then galloped out good. We wanted him to gallop out five-eighths and then we didn’t want much more after that.”

White Abarrio has not raced since a troubled trip in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) last August at Saratoga, where he was involved in an early bumping incident that nearly knocked jockey Edgard Zayas from the irons and unseated jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Mindframe.

The earner of $7.15 million was scratched on the track after warming up for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar and subsequently withdrawn from Gulfstream’s Mr. Prospector (G3) Dec. 27, which he used as a prep prep for the 2025 Pegasus.

White Abarrio figures to be a sentimental favorite in the Pegasus, a race he won by 6 ¼ lengths last winter – the largest margin of victory since the race was inaugurated in 2017. No horse has won the Pegasus more than once; 2021 Horse of the Year was second in his 2022 title defense.

“You’re not dealing with ideal circumstances because, obviously, the horse was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup,” Joseph said, “so, you don’t just jump into this and go right on. You have to make sure you cover every base, every step, and we have.

“We did really well and then at Thanksgiving we had a situation where we had to switch the shoes on him, and it kind of put us backwards. Since then, we’ve been on forward progress,” he added. “Today I thought the horse worked very good. I’m happy where he’s at. Hopefully everything continues smooth sailing from here.”