Pegasus World Cup 2017: Time, TV schedule, and field for the $12 million race

California Chrome will bring a bit of star power to the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, giving fans one last chance to watch him compete before he retires to stud service. He’ll highlight a field of 12 in a 1-1/8-mile dirt race billing itself as the “world’s richest thoroughbred horse race” that also features 2016 Travers Stakes winner Arrogate and Breeders’ Cup Classic third-place finisher Keen Ice.

You can tune into the broadcast on NBC beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET, with the feature race set for approximately 5:40 p.m. NBC will also stream the competition on NBC Sports Live Extra.

The race, limited to horses 4 years old and up, carries the world’s richest purse, paid for by a $1 million entry fee to the stakeholders. The Dubai World Cup’s total purse is $10 million, and Breeders’ Cup Classic has a $6 million purse. The winner of the Pegasus World Cup alone will take home $7 million.

Still, you might have some questions. We’ll try to answer them.

This is a fair one to ask, and we’ll tackle those questions backward. After the Triple Crown races in May and June, and the Breeders’ Cup in October/November, the casual fan doesn’t hear about many of the other races that draw the attention of everyday horse racing fans throughout the season.

Announced last year by the Stronach Group, which owns a number of tracks around the country, the Grade I Pegasus World Cup hopes to change that through its large payday, national broadcast, and a star-studded field. So you should watch because you’re going to see a matchup of probably the two best horses competing today, California Chrome and Arrogate, chasing a whole lot of money.

There are a couple of different aspects to this race. The first, of course, is the entry fee, and what it buys. The field was set by paying $1 million for an entry spot. In case of a late scratch, an alternate horse can still be entered so the backers aren’t out of their $1 million. Beyond the winner’s $7 million payday, second place takes home $1.75 million and third gets $1 million. The other finishers are guaranteed $250,000.

A payday like that naturally was going to draw pretty well, so the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked horses, California Chrome and Arrogate, both showed up. Frank Taylor, whose family co-owns Chrome, said the prize money was definitely a draw and came down to a risk-reward calculation. California Chrome already has 175 stud sessions lined up, but any race could be a horse’s last.

“We can breed him and make $6 million,” Taylor told Daily Racing Form. “If we run in all these races, he could earn $15 million, but he’d have to win all those races and stay in training for the year.”

The other difference in this race is a five-pound allowance for horses that begin the race without the drug Lasix (or furosemide), a diuretic frequently found in horse racing.

“That was one of the incentives that the chairman wanted to put in there to see if he could incentivize people that had horses that weren’t running on Lasix,” Gulstream Park president Tim Ritvo said, via Bloodhorse, “and also to reach out to the international horses, saying, ‘Well, you have a five-pound weight advantage if you continue to run your horse without Lasix.’”

The only entrant who’ll take advantage of that, however, is Eragon, whose trainer, Laura Wohlers, says the horse never uses Lasix. “It’s our normal M.O. to run without Lasix anyway, so the weight allowance gives us an advantage,” Wohlers told Bloodhorse. “What has surprised me is that not more people are taking advantage of that.”

Starting on the more difficult outside post, Chrome (6-5) received slightly better morning line odds than Arrogate (7-5). You can find the full morning line odds below.

Time: 4:30-6 p.m. ET (post time: 5:40 p.m.)
TV: NBC
Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra