Tax Chasing Clean Break In Second Pegasus Shot

Tax led at every call in the Harlan’s Holiday, winning by 4 1/2 lengths under Luis Saez

Tax, a big bay gelding who returned from a six-month layoff to impressively win the Harlan’s Holiday (G3) Dec. 12, gets his second shot at Pegasus glory Saturday when he lines up with 11 others for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational (G1).

Owned by R.A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Hugh Lynch and trained by Danny Gargan, Tax was claimed out of his second race for $50,000 in October of 2018. The son of Arch has since won three graded races and nearly $1 million.

After stumbling at the start of last year’s Pegasus and finishing ninth, Tax was off for six months after a fifth-place finish in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Gargan said the plan originally was to run at Keeneland in the fall and then the Breeders’ Cup, but a temperature kept the colt away from the races until his victory in the Harlan’s Holiday.

Gulfstream host and analyst Acacia Courtney talked to Gargan about Tax getting a clean break in this year’s Pegasus under jockey Luis Saez, the big colt’s maturity, and the ownership group.