HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Senor Buscador, the 10th highest earning North American Thoroughbred in racing history, has been retired less than a week before his scheduled start in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
Trainer Todd Fincher sadly announced the news just hours after breezing Senor Buscador four furlongs in 49.84 seconds here Sunday morning under jockey Junior Alvarado and only minutes before his name was expected to be in the box when entries were drawn for the Pegasus World Cup, a race Senor Buscador had finished second in a year ago.
“He worked really well but had a scope afterwards that we weren’t happy with, and it’s not worth trying to run a horse in a race like that if he’s not 100 percent,” a disappointed Fincher said. “I don’t know what caused it, but these things happen.”
Senor Buscador, 7, who is owned by Joe R. Peacock Jr., retires with seven victories in 23 starts and earnings of $12,944,427, the bulk of which came from his head decision over Ushba Tesoro in the 2024 Saudi Cup. That effort came one month after his furious late rally fell just a neck shy of catching National Treasure in the 2024 Pegasus World Cup and five weeks before his third-place finish in the $12 million Dubai World Cup.
Senor Buscador, who rallied to be fifth in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic, closed out his career by finishing a distant ninth following a very eventful start, in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.
“He’s moving on to his next career,” Fincher added. “He’s been good to us, and we’re going to be good to him.”
Bentornato to be rested
On Sunday, several minutes before learning his Newgrange had drawn post position 3 for the Pegasus World Cup, trainer Jose D’Angelo confirmed that plans to send his Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Bentornato to the Middle East later this winter for possible starts in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint and Dubai Golden Shaheen have been scrapped.
Bentornato finished second, beaten just a half-length by Straight No Chaser, after leading through midstretch in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. He returned to Southern California a second time seven weeks later for a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita only to be scratched the morning of the race due to a sore left foot.
“We’ve decided to stop on him and give him some time off,” said D’Angelo. “He ran some very hard races at the end of last year, made two long trips to California, and he’s still not 100 percent since coming back from Santa Anita. We believe he is going to come back even bigger and better as a 4-year-old this year but we’re not going to rush him into anything.
“Right now our primary goal is to get him back to the Breeders’ Cup and we’ll set a schedule working back from that race once he’s ready to return to training.”
As for Newgrange, he only joined D’Angelo’s barn last month after being with trainer Phil D’Amato, for whom he won three Grade 2 stakes. Idle since finishing a well-beaten fifth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 27, Newgrange has worked only twice in preparation for the Pegasus since arriving in South Florida after “getting a little sick” and missing some training time according to D’Angelo.
Pegasus week begins
Pegasus week will kick off with a nine-race program on Wednesday highlighted by a $54,000 allowance and optional-claiming race restricted to Florida-breds going 1 1/16 miles over the Tapeta course. The race lured a field of eight, topped by likely favorite Shankar along with the familiar pair of Cashier Check and Dear Dad, who finished second and fourth, respectively, under similar conditions last month.
Shankar matched a career-high 85 Beyer Speed Figure registering an easy 2 3/4-length victory in his return to Florida-bred company over the turf on Oct. 27. He was a bit of a disappointment closing out his 2024 campaign six weeks later when checking in third as a 3-5 favorite while moving back to tougher open company and the synthetic strip.
Cashier Check finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Dear Dad while chasing home runaway winner Junction Road in the pair’s most recent meeting. Dear Dad did not get the cleanest of trips while finishing off the board as the 6-5 favorite that day. Dear Dad is one of two key contenders trainer Mark Casse has entered in the main event along with likely pacesetter Catch a Tiger.
The remainder of the field includes Night Rider; Uncle Armando, who returns with statebreds after finishing second against open company in each of his last three starts; Grande Soiree; and Reminder.
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