Europeans are usually formidable in American graded turf stakes, but one exception has been the 1/ST BET Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes. In all of its first five runnings, the January Grade 1 stakes at Gulfstream Park has been captured by American horses. That could change Saturday with a European filly is favored in the mile and an eighth turf feature.

Moments after Equinox was named the Longines World’s Best Racehorse of 2023, his regular rider fielded what may have been the toughest question on a festive day when asked to describe Japan’s two-time Horse of the Year in one word.

After a great deal of thought, and a couple of starts and stops, jockey Christophe Lemaire landed on “superstar.”