The inaugural Pegasus World Cup, the richest horse race in the world with a purse of $12 million, is this Saturday, Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park. The Pegasus, an icon of Greek mythology that symbolizes glory, knowledge and inspiration, is a familiar image worldwide; and in the last few millennia, the Pegasus has become a staple of pop culture. I’m ranking the top ten Pegasi (Pegasuses, maybe?) in books, TV, movies and art below; for my purposes, we’re categorizing any winged horse as a Pegasus since otherwise this would be a very short list.

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10. Original Pegasus: The winged horse who started it all helped Bellerophon conquer and kill the Chimera. Pegasus was later charged with carrying Zeus’s thunderbolts and, after long and loyal service on Olympus, was eventually honored by becoming a constellation. Only ranks #10 since, although he’s pretty much the ubiquitous idea of the winged horse, he hasn’t done much in about 3,000 years.

9. Xanadu Pegasus: In a musical about a roller skating muse with an Australian accent (why?) named Kira who falls in love with Sonny, a suicidal sidewalk muralist (again: why?) in Venice Calif., let’s just say that the appearance of a Pegasus is nothing to be surprised by. Still, a top pop-culture Pegasus who reminds us that the 1980s were a strange time earns a berth on this list.

8. M. C. Escher’s Pegasus: The artist known for his impossible objects and intricate lithographs created a famous tessellation of Pegasus, which is at once simple and incredibly mathematically complex. See how he created the work below; but note that, in 1959, he made his with India ink and no help from a computer.

7. Threstals, the Harry Potter series: Threstals are the Goth cousins of the Pegasus: horses who are skeletal and lizard-like in appearance, Threstals are visible only to people who have seen death. Despite those morbid attributes, Threstrals are gentle as well as incredibly useful, possessing excellent navigational ability.  I would very much like to have one but for that whole “must witness death firsthand to see the flying pony” clause.

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6. Fledge, “Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew”: Fledge was a simple cart horse named Strawberry at the beginning of “The Magician’s Nephew,” but due to a series of magical misadventures, he became the first Pegasus in Narnia and the father of all horses in C. S. Lewis’s classic fantasy series.  I would have ranked him higher, but Strawberry was kind of a wimp before he turned into a flying horse.

5. Fantasia’s Pegasus: Disney’s “Fantasia” is a timeless classic, and I loved the pegasi in this vignette. There’s every chance that these pegasi could have secured the #1 spot but for the fact that “Fantasia” also includes the “Night on Bald Mountain” scene, which completely terrified me as a child ... and I just realized that the whole scene still freaks me out today. So, it’s down here at #5.

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4. Gaudior, “A Swiftly Tilting Planet”: Nuclear war, mad dictators and interdimensional time travel may seem like heavy topics for a children’s book, but I loved Madeleine L’Engle’s works as a kid. The introduction of Gaudior, a haughty, know-it-all, teleporting unicorn Pegausus in “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” made me fall in love with the book.

3. Rainbow Dash, “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”: Rainbow Dash is loyal, tough and brave, which has garnered her a legion of loyal fans of all ages. Also, she controls the weather and has inspired everything from makeup tutorials to cake decorations; so, Rainbow Dash has my respect.

2. Pegasus from Disney’s “Hercules”: He’s tough, he’s funny, he’s loyal and he’s brave; Pegasus from Disney’s “Hercules” is basically the platonic ideal of a horse friend; plus, he may have been the most adorable foal ever. Evidence below:

1. Swift Wind from “She-Ra, Princess of Power”: Swift Wind is inarguably the best flying horse of all time. Below, you can watch as She-Ra and Swifty team up to fight evil, flying, robot, bat drones, and that was just three minutes in one of 93 episodes of the show. Again: best pop culture Pegasus of all time.