Joe Nevills, sales editor for the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
#1 - Singing Bullet
Stronach Group's house horse
Hurtles into the deep end
The rail's nice, at least
#2 - West Coast
The 3-year-old champ
Stood with the best in this field
Win threat with clean start
#3 - Stellar Wind
Recent sale-topper
Lacks a flair for the big stage
Winless at distance
#4 - Sharp Azteca
A big-time miler
Will have to fight for the pace
At a new distance
#5 - Collected
Best from the west coast
Used his mulligan in a
Lackluster last out
#6 - Gunnevera
Honest, loves the track
Bound to sneak up for a piece
If the pace sets up
#7 - Fear the Cowboy
Local prep winner
Lost a listed stakes at Penn
Before that effort
#8 - War Story
If you don't succeed
Try, try again and again
He's inching closer
#9 - Toast of New York
The comeback story
Has a huge upside on dirt
If he's fresh, not stale
#10 - Gun Runner
New Horse of the Year
Stares down a tricky swan song
The long way around
#11 - Seeking the Soul
Hot at the right time
But he'll need another gear
To hang in this bunch
#12 - Giant Expectations
Topped the San Antone
With Collected tuning up
Low expectations
#13AE - Giuseppe the Great
Gained a ton of buzz
For his Jim Dandy second
Five races ago
#14AE - Game Over
The other Loooch horse
Can't get it done in Grade 3s
Wouldn't split the field
Prediction
Another torch-pass
West Coast usurps Gun Runner
Six, eight fill super