Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, a private racing stable owned by Dean and Patti Reeves of Atlanta, GA., is one of a dozen stakeholders in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, the world’s richest horse race to be run Saturday, Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park.
The Reeves, who formed their stable in 2009 with trainer Kathy Ritvo and campaigned 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, are currently searching for a horse to contest the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus. Dean Reeves has agreed to occasionally share his thoughts on the process of acquiring a participant for the world’s richest horse race as well as participating in this unique and innovative event.
When I originally heard about the Pegasus World Cup Invitational I thought it was unique and it would be something outside the box. And when I looked at it I thought it had some good opportunities for an owner who has a slot to do a couple things.
One was to do business with owners you normally wouldn’t do business with, either going in on a horse or leasing a horse. Secondly, it had a lot of other financial opportunities tied to it and, long-term, if this thing really grew, it could be a profitable venture. I knew early on we were probably going to be taking a chance, because I didn’t have a horse sitting there like you would if you owned California Chrome. So I think for several reasons we have to look at this long term and hope we can get the right deal done on a horse. Of course, this was six months ago and we didn’t know about Arrogate at the time. We didn’t have a horse then and we still don’t. But in this horse business things change, and we’re still looking at the benefits long term.
As far as looking for a horse, I think that we’re probably not much different than anyone else. We have created a list of what we feel like are available and potential horses that could compete in this kind of race. And it runs the gamut from horses who have run 1 1/8 miles to 1 1/4 miles, to horses that have run a mile who we think can stretch out, and horses who run on the grass who could run a race on the dirt. So we put together a list and from that we make inquiries either through trainers or owners to find out where they are in regard to looking at a potential lease, sale, partial sale or any of the above.
We have a dozen horses on the list. We haven’t talked to all 12, and out of the 12 we have not included Arrogate or California Chrome. We’re trying to see who else is out there. But out of that 12 we’ve probably talked to five or six of those people. They are all North American based.
It’s a process. It’s underway. We’ve had some trainers contact us about their horse as well. We’ve put feelers out to some owners to get an idea of availability and options. I would say for the next two or three weeks that’s what we will be doing.
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