Ortiz was emotional after winning the turf race for the third time in four years. “We needed everything to go exactly according to plan,” Pletcher said. Space Traveller, a 12-1 choice, emerged from a wall of pursuers at the end to get third and pay $6.20 to show. “It was a great race for both horses,” Pletcher said. Never Surprised, at 7-2, held on for second and paid $5.20 and $4.20. Never Surprised held it most of the way, before Colonel Liam pulled up alongside in the stretch and eventually got to the front.Ĭolonel Liam returned $5.20, $3.60 and $3. “He’s the best horse I sat on in my whole life.”Ĭolonel Liam went back-to-back for Pletcher and Ortiz, winning the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup turf for the second consecutive year.Ĭolonel Liam, the 8-5 favorite, watched another Pletcher trainee in Never Surprised bolt from the outside of the 12-horse field to the early lead. The Dubai World Cup would figure to be something his connections would consider. No shame in running second today to him.”Īssuming he comes out of the Pegasus with no injury concerns, another big-money race likely awaits Life Is Good in his next outing. Congratulations to Todd Pletcher, one of the best to ever live. He was a lot better horse today than us,” Knicks Go trainer Brad Cox said. He settled into third place in the early going, battled the whole way but never could put a scare into Life Is Good. It was already determined that he would be retired to stand stud after this race, and the second-place finish denied him a chance to push his career earnings past the $10 million mark. “I can’t think of one that’s better than him.”

“We’ve had a lot of great ones,” Pletcher said. It was Pletcher’s first Pegasus World Cup win, and afterward, the seven-time Eclipse Award winner as the game’s top trainer heaped enormous praise on Life Is Good. “It was a tremendous effort,” Pletcher said about Life Is Good. Stilleto Boy, a 25-1 shot behind the 4-5 co-favorites, paid $2.80 to show. Knicks Go - the likely Horse of the Year for 2021 after winning, among other things, the Pegasus and the Breeders’ Cup Classic - returned $2.10 and $2.10. The victory capped a huge day for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who also teamed up to win the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf with Colonel Liam just before the main event. The 4-year-old - who may have been the Kentucky Derby favorite last year if not for an ankle injury - flashed his speed from the moment the gate opened, drawing five lengths clear after just a quarter-mile and was never challenged. – Life Is Good went to the lead right away and stayed there, winning the $3 million Pegasus World Cup with ease Saturday and denying Knicks Go what would have been a storybook finish to his career. The federally mandated Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which already regulated racetrack safety and other measures, will oversee drug testing requirements for horses that should standardize the sport nationwide for the first time.HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. In that vein, new national medication and doping rules are set to go into effect on Monday.

Those inside it have said they accept the realities of on-track deaths of horses while also acknowledging more work needs to be done to prevent as many as possible. are at their lowest level since they began being tracked in 2009, adding another at the track hosting a Triple Crown race will only intensify the internal and external scrutiny of the industry. “We’re still sad about that horse, and we will be for a while,” he said.

While expressing concern for Saez, Baffert said he was still grieving about Havnameltdown. Saez went to the hospital but was conscious, and his agent said X-rays were negative.

Irad ortiz injury video