Gulfstream Park Press

From HALLANDALE BEACH, FL — At Gulfstream Park, the $150K Harlan’s Holiday (G3) was decided by a head as Skippylongstocking, campaigned by Daniel Alonso, held off Poster’s persistent outside run in deep stretch. That razor‑thin verdict, the kind you’d see in a photo‑finish example, punched the seasoned 6‑year‑old’s ticket into the $3.0 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) set for January 24.

Staged at one mile and a sixteenth for 3‑year‑olds and older, the race functioned as the tune‑up to the tenth Pegasus at a mile and one‑eighth. It topped an eleven‑race card featuring five stakes, including the $200K Fort Lauderdale (G3) at nine furlongs on turf, itself a feeder to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), much like a semifinal in other sports.

Though a hard‑trying son of Exaggerator who snagged the Harlan’s Holiday in 2022 late in his 3‑year‑old season, he arrived at this renewal off two disappointments. He finished seventh in the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on August 2 and then eighth in the Charles Town Classic (G2) on August 22, when he was affected by “the thumps,” a diaphragm spasm comparable to human hiccups, for example.

“When one comes back, you can’t be sure they truly return to form,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “After two poor runs, you just watch what he tells you, and he’d been training as well as at any point in his life. He’s six turning seven, and, trust me, his works were as sharp as ever, so we were quietly confident he’d run big — but certainty doesn’t exist. He needs a patient ride; that’s a key to him. Beyond the thumps last time, we also sent him into a heavy track bias that day, and today he made amends.”

Handled with cool timing by Tyler Gaffalione, Skippylongstocking hugged the rail behind pacesetter Hold My Bourbon around the first turn and up the backstretch — think of saving ground like drafting — while the clock showed 22.87 and 45.95 for the opening half‑mile. As Hold My Bourbon, pressured by Con Compania, began to wilt turning for home, Skippy briefly lost a step but quickly regrouped when Gaffalione swept three wide into the stretch, only to have Poster, the 3‑to‑2 favorite with Flavien Prat, hook up on his outside right away.

That sequence produced a stirring late duel between a multiple graded‑stakes veteran and Godolphin’s 3‑year‑old colt, who had returned from roughly seven months on the sidelines to win an allowance at Churchill Downs. Poster fought hard under Prat, yet Skippylongstocking’s experience told in the final yards as he turned back the bid — a classic veteran‑versus‑up‑and‑comer example in horse racing.

Covering the one mile and one‑sixteenth in 1 minute 43.05 seconds, Skippylongstocking secured his tenth graded triumph. His bankroll now tops about $3.7 million — for example, comfortably more than three and a half million.

“His momentum got interrupted — he ran up behind my other horse as that one was backing up. Prat did well to recognize it and even waited to try to keep him pinned, but Tyler sliced through,” Joseph said. “Poster had all the momentum, so ours had to dig in and rally again. That’s a gutsy effort — the kind of heart you can’t teach — and it explains his career.”

Tabbed at roughly 2‑to‑1 as a co‑second choice with Hold My Bourbon, Skippylongstocking finished third in last season’s Pegasus World Cup, won by Joseph stablemate White Abarrio.

“With a favorable post, he can win the Pegasus, no doubt,” Joseph said. “He ran huge this year against White Abarrio from a terrible draw; if he lands a good gate and the pace scenario suits, it’s absolutely possible. We’ll see.”

Eoin Harty‑trained Poster, whose Road to the Kentucky Derby was halted by a condylar fracture of his right foreleg in March’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3), came home second, five and one‑half lengths in front of Catalytic in third.