By White Abbario may be the sleeper horse in the Pegasus World Cup based on recent form because of how the horse placed second in a G3 race at 7f on Dec. 28 at Gulfstream. In spite of that disappointing performance, the Handicap Wizard still rates White Abbario as the second selection when he is only 1% behind Saudi Crown in terms of total win probability (17.22% versus 16.29%). But there are some things going for White Abbario, including strong works at Gulfstream this month (0:48 over 4f on Jan. Jan 16 and 0:47 over 4f on Jan. 9), a 75% lifetime win percentage at Gulfstream (6 wins in 8 starts, including the Florida Derby in 2022), a solid win percentage at 18.9% (4-1 strength in terms of money wins adjusted for stakes), and the highest LP projection in the field at 48.5% win estimate. The latter is particularly important for the distance of the race at 1 1/8 mi when no other horse come close to having the late pace strength. Even though White Abbario finished second in his last race, he still recorded a LP figure of 107. Therefore, White Abbario is primed for the longer distance and should be in better form in this race when this will be his third race after a layoff in the fall 2024. He also has a jockey advantage with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, who has won the Pegasus World Cup twice previously.
Pro-Handicap Analytics 