Accelerate Works Towards Pegasus

[Wandering Eyes]

Hronis Racing’s Horse of the Year candidate and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic hero Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) drilled five furlongs in 1:00.40 (5/86) (XBTV video) over the Santa Anita main track Saturday morning as he continues his preparations for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream Park Jan. 26.

“Super, a really good work this morning,” trainer John Sadler told the Santa Anita press office. “The next three or four works are all kind of key. Now we’re starting to let him do a little bit more, and he looked very sharp this morning, maybe better than ever. You hate to say that, but it’s the truth.”

Sadler said that tentative plans call for Accelerate to ship out the week of the race.

“He’ll gallop over the track there,” the conditioner said. “He’s been a good shipper this year. The previous year, he wasn’t a good shipper; this year he’s been fine.”

Several other Pegasus aspirants turned in Saturday morning breezes as well. One of the four horses that clocked a faster time than Accelerate was GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile hero City of Light (Quality Road), who stopped the timer in 1:00 flat (XBTV video). The 4-year-old is the last horse to defeat Accelerate, having taken down his colors in a thrilling renewal of the GII Oaklawn H. last April.

Gunnevera (Dialed In), second to Accelerate in the Classic, continued along the road to the Pegasus with a five-furlong breeze over the Gulfstream Park West main track that was timed in 1:01.80 (2/29). In New Orleans Saturday morning, Charles Fipke’s Seeking the Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire}) worked three-quarters of a mile in a sharp 1:11. Runner-up in the Dirt Mile, the homebred was fifth behind Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in last year’s Pegasus.

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