Photo:

Carlos J. Calo / Eclipse Sportswire

Spirit of St. Louis made the most of a rare trip away from
New York on Saturday, securing his first graded-stakes victory by a neck in the
Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, a 1 1/8-mile test for
older horses at Gulfstream Park.

The gelded, 6-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro had some trouble in the
trip, but jockey Tyler Gaffalione swung him outside to find running room at the
top of the stretch and caught Integration just before the wire. He completed
the race in 1:44.50 and paid $17.80. Integration finished 1 1/4 lengths in from
of Chasing the Crown, who was 60-1. Godolphin’s Nations Pride, the 7-2
favorite, finished ninth in the field of 12.

Click here for Gulfstream Park entries and results.

Trainer Chad Brown, who received his fifth Eclipse Award as
champion trainer Thursday night, looks after the chestnut for Madaket Stables,
Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn.

Spirit of St. Louis came into the Pegasus Turf with nine
wins from 13 starts. All nine of the victories were on New York tracks, and
eight were in New York-bred company. In his lone previous graded-stakes try, he
was fifth in the Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland in October.

Brown prepared Spirit of St. Louis in at Payson Park this
winter.

“The horse had been training super,” Brown said. “I’m just
fortunate the horse got in the race, because without a lot of graded stuff next
to him and no graded wins, he could have easily gotten excluded. I’m happy he
was in the race, and he fired today.

“Tyler, just another brilliant ride. Honestly, I haven’t had
a good meet here. Tyler’s ridden a bunch of them, and I don’t think I’ve had
one bad trip. Tyler’s just been in the right spot at every pole in every race,
at least for my horses that I’ve watched. Just phenomenal riding. He’s in
career form.”

While Formidable Man and Win for the Money were leading the
way through fast early fractions of 22.74, 46.20 and 1:09.29, Gaffalione and
Spirit of St. Louis were in mid-pack a few lengths pack but stuck between
horses.

“I loved where he was, but the fact that he found himself
between horses down the backside, I’d rather either be on the rail or two
deep,” Brown said. “Right in between two horses can get a little tight at
times, so I was mildly concerned. I loved where he was in relation to the
leader and the pace, but I didn’t know how he was going to track from there.
One of the many great moves in the race was Tyler on the turn when he sort of
let a couple other horses go first and cleared his own path rather than try to
go with him. He would have got jammed up if he went with them.”

Gaffalione took the horse out to the middle of the course,
and he responded.

“I needed to keep an eye on them all around me, especially
when William (Buick aboard Nations Pride) went up the fence and gave me a good
target,” Gaffalione said. “I just kind of waited for my spot, and coming into
the stretch I was able to work my way out, and the horse did the rest. I’m so
happy for the connections and thankful for the opportunity. It’s incredible.
This is home for me, and it’s good to see so many friendly faces, and it’s good
to be back in the winner’s circle.”

Integration, the 7-2 second choice, looked like a winner in
the stretch but could not hold off Spirit of St. Louis in an exception to the
day’s trend favoring frontrunners on the turf.

“I had him where I wanted him,” jockey Frankie Dettori said.
“I knew he’d stay so I kicked, and one came out of the pack and got me on the
line. I wanted to be a little closer, because it didn’t read like there was
going to be a ton of pace. We know the horse can run longer, so I wanted to be (closer)
the way the turf is riding today. No excuses.”