2021 Pegasus World Cup: Sleepy Eyes Todd

In the days leading up to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, usracing.com will profile the horses in the race set for Jan. 23. The profiles will be updated on Jan. 20 with morning-line odds, post positions and jockeys.

By Lynne Snierson

This 5-year-old gray is an iron horse. The model of consistency has won eight of 15 starts at 11 different tracks across the country at distances from 6 ½ furlongs to 1 ½ miles on dirt and on turf. He always shows up and enters fresh from a half-length score over G1 winners Firenze Fire and Mind Control in the Mr. Prospector (G3) on Dec. 19. But that race was a 7-furlong sprint. He has been victorious in a graded stakes at 1 1/8 miles, winning last year’s Charles Town Classic (G2) on the front end all the way by a record 7 ½ lengths, but that track is a 6-furlong oval.

Following his impressive win at Charles Town, his connections took him to Santa Anita and stepped him up into the Awesome Again (G1), where he had a tough day against multiple G1 winners Maximum Security and Improbable, the odds-on favorite to win the Eclipse Award as the Older Dirt Male, finishing fifth, 12 ½ lengths behind. Sleepy Eyes Todd must prove he can achieve success at the top level, but his triple digit speed figures in the last six and nine of his last 11, plus his victory over this track against previous G1 winners, signal it would be wise to factor him into the exotics.

RELATED: 2021 Pegasus World Cup: Math Wizard

Pegasus World Cup Profile: Sleepy Eyes Todd

Post position: TBD

Odds: TBD

Trainer: Miguel Angel Silva

Jockey: TBD

Owners: Thumbs Up Racing LLC (David and Brenda Cobb)

Age: 5

Career record: 15 8-2-0

Career earnings: $744,825

Top Equibase speed figure: 119

Pedigree: Paddy O’Prado- Pledge Mom, by Wild Rush

Color: Gray/Roan

Running style: Versatile. Can set the pace or close

Notes: Worked 4 furlongs in 50.80 seconds on Jan. 17 at Gulfstream … This horse is the only graded stakes winner for veteran conditioner Silva, who has 4,213 starters, and for the owners, who are in just their second year in the sport and are looking for their first win in 2021 … Bought for $9,000 as a weanling at the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, his name reminds that Donald Trump referred to NBC’s Meet the Press moderator and MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd with the insult “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd” in tweets and at rallies.

Pegasus World Cup Contenders

Horse
Trainer
Owner
Code of Honor
Shug McGaughey
W.S. Farish
Harpers First Ride
Claudio A. Gonzalez
MCA Racing Stable LLc
Jesus’ Team
Jose D’Angelo
Grupo 7C Racing Stable
Kiss Today Goodbye
J. Eric Kruljac
John Sondereker
Knicks Go
Brad Cox
Korea Racing Authority
Mr Freeze
Dale Romans
Jim Bakke, Gerald Isbister
Sleepy Eyes Todd
Miguel Angel Silva
Thumbs Up Racing, LLC
Tax
Danny Gargan
R.A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Hugh Lynch
True Timber
Jack Sisterson
Calumet Farm
Math Wizard
Saffie Joseph Jr.
John Fanelli, Khalid Mishref, Cash is King LLC, LC Racing LLC, Collarmele Vitelli Stables LLC, Ioannis, Zouas, Bassett Stables
Independence Hall
Michael W. McCarthy
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Twin Creeks Racing Stables, LLC, Verratti, Kathleen and Verratti, Robert N.
Coastal Defense
Dale Romans
Albaugh Family Stables LLC and Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust
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