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(Trainer Todd Pletcher / Photo by Holly M. Smith)
From the Gulfstream Park Media Team:
G1 Winners She Feels Pretty, Sacred Wish Among Invited;
Pletcher, Brown Each with Two Invites for Jan. 25 Event
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Group 1 winners from South Africa and Chile, a recent Irish-bred graded winner from the U.K., and U.S. Grade 1 winners She Feels Pretty and Sacred Wish top the list of invitees for the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.
The fourth running of the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf will be part of Pegasus World Cup Day featuring the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), and a day of seven graded stakes totaling $5.2 million.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, who won the Pegasus World Cup in 2022 with Life Is Good and the Pegasus World Cup Turf with Colonel Liam in 2021-22, will look to complete his Pegasus hat trick with a victory in the Filly & Mare Turf while saddling Bless My Stars and Raqiya.
Shadwell Stable’s Irish-bred Raqiya won her U.S. debut Nov. 2 at Del Mar when she went to the front and never looked back while winning the Goldikova (G3) under jockey Frankie Dettori. It was the 4-year-old’s first start since being placed first in July at Goodwood Racecourse in Britain in the Oak Tree Stakes (G3).
Bless My Stars, a Group 1 winner in South Africa owned by Gary Barber and Team Valor International, was sixth when making her U.S. debut Dec. 21 in the Suwannee River (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
John Stewart’s Resolute Racing has received two invitations. The 4-year-old Dona Clota is expected to make her U.S. debut in the Filly & Mare Turf after beating colts twice in Group 1 races in Chile. Ignacio Correas IV trains. The second Resolute invite went to Pounce, winner of the Lake George (G3) at Saratoga and Gulfstream’s Herecomesthebride (G3). Mark Casse trains.
She Feels Pretty, owned by Lael Stables and trained by Cherie DeVaux, will be a favorite for the race. A winner of five of eight starts, the 4-year-old daughter of Karakontie enters the Filly & Mare Turf off consecutive victories in the Queen Elizabeth (G1) at Keeneland and American Oaks (G1) at Santa Anita.
Trainer Chad Brown, who won the inaugural Filly & Mare Turf in 2022 with Regal Glory, has received invitations for Fluffy Socks and Prerequisite.
Fluffy Socks, owned by Head of Plains Partners LLC, has been one of the sport’s most consistent competitors, with 23 of her 30 starts being in graded stakes, eight in Grade 1 events. The 7-year-old was fourth in last year’s Filly & Mare Turf. Prerequisite, owned by First Row Partners, ran only three times in 2024. The 5-year-old is a Grade 2 winner and was second in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) in 2023.
Sacred Wish, trained by George Weaver, has been extended an invitation off a victory Dec. 1 at Del Mar in the Matriarch (G1). Like Fluffy Socks, Sacred Wish has been a model of consistency with a record of 4-6-3 in 17 starts.
Grade 3 winners Be Your Best, Minoushka, and Mrs. Astor were also extended invitations. Be Your Best, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., is a winner of her last two starts in the Long Island (G3) and Suwannee River. Mrs. Astor would enter the Filly & Mare Turf off victories in the Red Carpet (G3) at Del Mar and Frankel (G3) at Santa Anita. Minoushka is group-placed in Europe and fourth in the Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs Nov. 29.
There are eight fillies and mares on the also-eligible list. Trainer Christophe Clement has two in graded stakes-placed Breath Away and Tropical Oaks winner See You Around, Miller Racing, LLC’s Cellars Shiraz winner In Our Time, multiple stakes winner De Regreso, graded-stakes placed Papilio, Autumn Miss (G3) winner Watchtower, and Ribaltagaia, fourth in her U.S. debut in the Suwannee River are all on the also-eligible list.
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