In A Thrilling Upset, Art Collector Breezes For The Win, Defunded Places, And Stilleto Boy Shows

Going off as a second-tier runner at 15-1, the veteran Art Collector showed his stamina and his class in delivering a dashing, textbook four-and-a-half length win to take the 2023 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream on Saturday. The sturdy Bob Baffert-trained Defunded held on to place, and the only slightly touted Stilleto Boy, at a very enticing 45-1, showed. That spectacular finish showed in the payouts in a boost for those players who had been thorough enough to bottom fish for exotics, with the triple paying a bracing $2394.70.

With Junior Alvarado in the irons for trainer Bill Mott, Art Collector showed great patience and style from the break, letting Defunded by in the early going, saving himself, then turning on the steam for a classic stretch run. Art Collector had by far the most left in him at the wire. With the exception of the place horse Defunded, whom backers had liked going in, the form of the race worked out to an almost wholly separate horse race from what most imagined it would be, with highly touted favorite Cyberknife, who never figured in the race, running a lackluster sixth in his valedictory from the track.

For his part, the Hall of Fame trainer Mott gave the press a deceptively simple estimate of the run that Art Collector and Alvarado delivered: “The horse liked what (Alvarado) did with him, that he was allowed to settle and breathe and save energy. It’s all about saving energy. He had something left turning for home.”

It’s important to note that jockey Alvarado and trainer Mott go back a ways. Alvarado rode Olympiad to finish second behind Flightline in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last fall. In fact, Mott, who had been careful to let Art Collector rest for quite some time in the months leading to the race, explained that he and Alvarado had discussed that Alvarado ride Art Collector “just like” he rode Olympiad, settling in and then bringing a run. The six-year-old Art Collector was, also, bred by Mott in Kentucky and, true to the pattern of the Pegasus, will eventually retire to stud at Claiborne Farms. The dates in his stud book will no doubt be boosted by this flourishing performance. Although Mott has announced no immediate plans for him, in every sense of the phrase, Art Collector won this most entertaining Pegasus going away.