America
'Yippy Skippy'! Veteran Skippylongstocking upsets the Pegasus
To say that it has been a soul-crushing experience for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr since the Breeders' Cup is an understatement of epic proportions.
After the vet scratch of White Abarrio (Race Day) moments before the GI Dirt Mile, Joseph began to question everything he knew about horses and training. However, at approximately 5:47 pm on Saturday afternoon, with the light of day quickly fading from the Gulfstream Park homestretch, Joseph proved that he knows a thing or two about conditioning racehorses when a pair of 7-year-old trainees–Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) and White Abarrio–streaked across the finish line in the top two positions, giving the trainer his second consecutive victory in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes.
All week there had been whispers that White Abarrio wasn't the same horse he was last year and his training had been subpar in the days leading up to the race. On the other hand, GIII Harlan's Holiday Stakes winner Skippylongstocking appeared to be coming into the race in good form, however, remained largely in the shadow of several other runners, including morning-line favorite Disco Time (Not This Time) and last year's's GI Curlin Florida Derby hero Tappan Street (Into Mischief)–both trained by Brad Cox.
With the field away in good order, recently anointed Eclipse champion jockey Flavien Prat took Disco Time to the front as the towering west coast invader Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast) and 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Captain Cook (Practical Joke) took up the chase through quick opening splits of 22.25s and 46.08s. In the meantime, White Abarrio settled in midpack while 21-1 chance Skipplongstocking was in an unhurried ninth.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Irad Ortiz Jr gave White Abarrio the signal early, and his sparkling grey mount charged into contention, ranging up in a favorably placed fourth about four paths off the rail. With Full Serrano putting the screws to the front-runner and with Captain Cook still in the hunt, White Abarrio continued his attack on the outside as Skippylongstocking was still a long way behind in eighth but was starting to roll.
Passing the quarter pole, White Abarrio overtook Disco Time, who was fighting hard but starting to wilt following his early exertions and straightening for home, it appeared that a second Pegasus victory was all but assured, as Full Serrano and Disco Time just couldn't seem to make up the ground. However, Skippinglongstocking had been deftly knifing his way through the field, and in what seemed a blink of the eye, was within striking distance an eighth of a mile from home.
In the stretch, White Abarrio tried his heart out to get home, but it was the sure-striding Skippinglongstocking who took over late and drove home the one and three-quarter-length winner over his stablemate.
“Saffie told me just to ride him (Skippinglongstocking) with a lot of confidence, be patient with him, trust in his ability and he was there for me every step.” - Tyler Gaffalione
“Everything really went to plan,” affirmed winning rider Tyler Gaffalione. “Saffie told me just to ride him with a lot of confidence, be patient with him, trust in his ability and he was there for me every step.”
He continued, “The race set up the way we needed to. I was able to find a nice spot inside. He traveled well for me. Coming around the turn, he just kept building. And he just kept responding. When we got into the far turn, I had to split horses, and as soon as I did, he took a nice deep breath and started moving forward.
“I'm so thrilled for the team, and so happy for the horse. He really deserved this Grade I win.”
“It's amazing–I love Skippy” said Joseph. “At seven years old, he was doing better than ever. The Harlan's Holiday was a big race. It was either he was going to show up or he was going to be retired. He showed up, but he did better since then. I had all the confidence in him going into this race.”
“It was either he (Skippinglongstocking) was going to show up or he was going to be retired. He showed up, but he did better since then.” - Saffie Joseph Jr
And while not garnering a win with last year's winner, both Joseph and Ortiz Jr were obviously pleased with White Abarrio's performance. However, for Joseph, the defeat was bittersweet.
“I just wanted Abarrio to come back safe and sound,” said a visibly relieved Joseph. “After coming off a scratch (in the Breeders' Cup Mile) that's all I wanted. If he came back good, that was a good day. We didn't win a race the whole day. I just wanted him to be safe. It's such an emotional day.”
Saturday's result has the winning conditioner thinking big.
“We did talk about this year if he ran well in the Pegasus, we might go to Dubai,” he said, referring to the US$12 million ($17.4 million) G1 Dubai World Cup on March 28. “The owners are going to have to decide. Dubai is going to come into play a lot. We'll talk it over.”
Pedigree: While garnering her first Grade I winner with Skippylongstocking, War Chant's daughter Twinkling is also responsible for stakes winners and Grade III-placed Moonlite Strike (Liam's Map) and Olivia Twist (Mshawish). Carrying a foal by Arabian Knight, Olivia Tist brought US$500,000 ($725,000) at last fall's Keeneland November Sale.
More recently, Twinkling is also represented the unraced 3-year-old filly Nahla (Authentic)–a US$550,000 ($798,000) Keeneland September purchase by Shadwell Farm in 2024–and a 2-year-old filly by Not This Time, who brought US$1 million ($1.45 million) from Repole Stable at Keeneland last September. Barren on a cover by Curlin in 2025, she was most recently bred back to that stallion.
Test Score leads home Motion 1-2 in Pegasus Turf
Amerman Racing LLC's Test Score (Lookin At Lucky) continued a phenomenal and productive afternoon for the newly turned 4-year-olds on the grass at Gulfstream Park, as he emerged from the pack to take out the US$1 million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, just holding off a late surge from his very well-backed stablemate One Stripe (SAf) (One World {SAf}).
Off at odds of 38-5 in his first start outside of age-restricted competition, the rail-drawn homebred secured the perfect spot two back on the fence in the box seat as Cabo Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile) made the running for Hall of Famer Mike Smith. Ridden for luck, with favored Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) stalking his every move from the fence a few lengths adrift, Test Score was angled sharply to the outside of the pacesetter in upper stretch, edged to the lead and proved narrowly best.
One Stripe, who had never raced beyond a mile, was hammered at the tills in the late stages to jump at odds of 43-10 from a 12-1 morning line. The recipient of a midfield trip for leading South African jockey Gavin Lerena, the bay entire came widest for the drive and was getting to the winner, but the wire arrived too soon. Almendares (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) finished a longshot third.
“I wanted to come out of there running because I knew there was a lot of speed in the race and I didn't want to be too far behind,” said winning jockey Manny Franco. “I didn't want to lose position going into the first turn. I held my position the whole time until we got to the backside. After that I was happy with where I was and how my horse was traveling.
“When (Test Score) made the front early he kind of waited a little bit, but when he felt the competition again he gave me another gear.” - Manny Franco
“At the three-eighths pole, the horse on the lead got away a little bit and I was able to go outside him,” Franco added. “When (Test Score) made the front early he kind of waited a little bit, but when he felt the competition again he gave me another gear.”
Trainer Graham Motion said he was inclined to shut down Test Score, given the rigors of his sophomore campaign.
“I'm going to give (Test Score) a bit of a break,” he said. “He's had a long year. I wanted to point for this race. We'll freshen him up for the spring. One Stripe, I think the future is unlimited for him. The distance really helped him today.”
Pedigree: John and Jerry Amerman purchased third dam Society Dream privately from her French breeder, and she was a stakes winner and Grade III placed in California under the care of Neil Drysdale. She has posthumously gone on to become the second dam of the Amermans' dual-surface Grade III winner Endlessly, a son of their star turf horse Oscar Performance.
Miss Chapin, one of six winners out of Society Dream, also became a noteworthy producer for the couple, accounting for GI Just A Game Stakes heroine Coffee Clique (Medaglia d'Oro), two-time Graded winner Admission Office (Point of Entry) and multiple Graded-placed Royal Fury (Langfuhr).
Test Score is the third of three winners from his dam and has a 2-year-old half-brother named Military Academy (War of Will) and a yearling half-sister by Liam's Map. Dam Joy of Learning was most recently covered by Not This Time.
