Pegasus finds its place among industry's top-bet events

Pegasus finds its place among industry’s top-bet events

Posted by author January 23, 2025 Horse Racing

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Carlos Calo / Eclipse Sportswire

The real story of the Pegasus World Cup’s handle growth is not in the eight years covered by this chart, but in the eight years preceding it.

Formerly known as the Donn Handicap, the reimagined Pegasus, which includes a star-studded on-track experience to complement the blockbuster card of racing, has averaged an average of $42.1 million from 2017 to 2024, its first eight years of existence. The Donn did an average of $15.8 million in its final eight years, 2009 to 2016.

Average total handle @GulfstreamPark

2009-2016 Donn Handicap day: $15.8-million

2017-2024 @PegasusWorldCup day: $42.1-million pic.twitter.com/AiQQJVuXe6

— Ed DeRosa (@EJXD2) January 20, 2025

Looking at the top 12 events from 2024 and the trajectory from 2017, when Pegasus began, three race dates at Saratoga broke on to the list last year: Belmont Stakes eve, Jim Dandy and Alabama days. The power of Saratoga was on full display with the Belmont Stakes eve handle explosion, as there were some years it was not even in the top 20.

Other than a couple of jumps for the Belmont for Justify’s Triple Crown in 2018 and the move to Saratoga in 2024, no event has shown nearly the growth that the Kentucky Derby has.

The Breeders’ Cup, in particular, has looked to pattern its Friday-Saturday programs off the Kentucky Oaks-Derby, but neither of the Breeders’ Cup days’ trend lines could be described as anything but flat And although the Oaks has remained flat from 2022 to 2024, it now is firmly established as the fifth-most bet day of the year to overtake either Travers or Breeders’ Cup Friday in that regard.

Event	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Derby	$209,156,729	$225,586,067	$246,717,013	$128,252,246	$233,114,923	$265,468,959	$282,528,405	$310,311,017
Belmont	$93,673,257	$137,975,292	$102,180,037	$67,765,392	$112,725,276	$98,772,795	$118,309,762	$125,766,186
BC Saturday	$113,803,606	$105,029,972	$118,057,709	$110,201,055	$120,683,350	$122,611,826	$114,145,773	$115,745,623
Preakness	$97,981,906	$93,686,097	$100,683,929	$50,380,967	$111,051,916	$103,436,961	$101,268,451	$100,030,448
Oaks	$48,823,802	$55,791,281	$60,111,249	$31,468,404	$54,267,782	$74,653,291	$74,912,485	$75,328,791
Travers	$47,874,386	$52,089,970	$52,139,988	$39,469,334	$51,554,341	$55,562,902	$50,587,114	$62,951,184
BC Friday	$52,273,881	$52,160,642	$56,537,320	$50,287,613	$61,696,894	$66,109,753	$62,150,864	$62,944,374
Pegasus	$40,219,272	$41,986,614	$37,791,354	$41,899,282	$40,718,272	$43,882,016	$43,892,572	$47,076,610
Belmont eve	$20,833,144	$20,866,849	$20,006,944	$12,492,254	$19,447,261	$21,630,244	$26,080,012	$38,584,638
Jim Dandy	$27,715,808	$23,957,288	$29,325,102	$35,843,780	$31,900,792	$33,619,664	$32,206,816	$37,255,894
Alabama	$24,033,897	$22,230,692	$25,263,739	$28,974,085	$24,906,454	$31,984,314	$31,242,779	$34,046,686
Florida Derby	$30,616,524	$49,989,651	$47,521,606	$53,841,165	$41,901,800	$37,314,640	$38,049,743	$33,727,084

The ninth Pegasus is Saturday at Gulfstream Park, and with a 13-race card and competitive marquee events, this could be the year it breaks the $50 million barrier.