Dubai: The $12 million (Dh44 million) Pegasus World Cup, a concept horse race which was proposed earlier this year, will become a reality when the inaugural running takes place on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Gulfstream Park in Florida, USA.
Scheduled to be run over a distance of 1,800 metres on dirt, the race has a unique entry system in that connections will have to fork up $1 million each to buy a spot in the starting gate.
They can then either run their horse, lease, contract or even sell their place in the race to another connection.
All entrants will also get an equal share of the net income from handle, media rights, and sponsorships from the Pegasus World Cup.
At present, the $10m Dubai World Cup, which is run at Meydan Racecourse each March, is the world’s richest horse race.
It is also significantly different to the Pegasus World Cup as it is a free to enter contest, although horses supplemented at three succeeding stages will be charged $10,000 (1st stage), $100,000 (2nd stage) and $1,000,000 (Final stage) respectively.
The 2016 edition of the race was won by American sensation California Chrome, who is likely to stay in training to contest the first running of the Pegasus World Cup next year.
The last horse to be supplemented to the Dubai World Cup at a fee of $1,000,000 was Saudi Arabia’s Teletex, who finished tenth behind California Chrome.
Frank Stronach, Founder and Honorary Chairman of The Stronach Group, who conceived the Pegasus World Cup said that after careful consideration a date was chosen for the race to “avoid a conflict with either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or the Dubai World Cup.”
