Comeback horse Toast Of New York has been confirmed as a runner in the $16 million ($A21 million) Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
The Jamie Osborne-trained entire had been off the track for almost three years before his winning reappearance at Lingfield earlier this month.
He had not been seen since being beaten a nose by Bayern in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2014.
Toast Of New York suffered an injury when he was being prepared for the Dubai World Cup which forced his retirement but after only a semi-successful spell at stud in Qatar it was decided to put him back in training.
Runners in the Pegasus on January 27 need the backing of a slot holder and an agreement has been reached by Toast Of New York’s owners, Al Shaqab Racing, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, an original shareholder in the Pegasus.
“It’s really good news,” Osborne said.
“Obviously we are very grateful to all parties concerned for making the move.”
Dean Reeves of Reeves Thoroughbred who were represented last year by Breaking Lucky who finished eighth behind Arrogate, told www.bloodhorse.com: the horse’s winning return prompted them to act.
“I think that he ran so well, that sort of put him in the picture,” Reeves said.
“I had gotten wind of the fact that they wanted to run the horse in the race. Of course we had some other opportunities with some of the other horses, but we really didn’t know if we were going to get anything done.
“Really in the last 24 hours, it sort of started to come together. We pulled the trigger and got the deal done.
“We’ll look pretty smart if he wins it. If he runs up the track, it won’t be any worse than it was last year.”
