2017 Pegasus World Cup Post Time Will Start A ‘Richest Horse Race In The World’ Rivalry

The 2017 Pegasus World Cup post time has captivated the world because its very first race is worth a whopping $12 million — but the rivalry for the “richest horse race in the world” will not be fought at Churchill Downs.

Instead, another horse race has already beat the purse for the Kentucky Derby long ago, and that previously held award goes to the Dubai World Cup held at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates in late March each year.

Since 2010, the purse for winning the Dubai World Cup was $10 million, and it was considered “the richest horse race in the world,” by DRF.

Now that the 2017 Pegasus World Cup winners will soon be announced on January 28 and awarded the $12 million (with $7 million going to first place), the Dubai World Cup might need to increase their purse to take back their title as the richest horse race in the world on March 31, 2017.

While many Americans think of the Kentucky Derby as the ultimate grand prize for a horse race in America, the fact of the matter is that, although a Derby winner gets prestige through breeding, it does not pay as much as expected. In fact, Kentucky Derby winners only get a $1.24 million cut of the overall $2 million guaranteed purse that is also distributed to the other top four winners.

Following the Kentucky Derby, the next race in the Triple Crown is The Preakness and it has a purse of $1.5 million. The final leg of the Triple Crown, The Belmont Stakes, is also $1.5 million guaranteed purse distributed between the first to fifth place winners of the horse race.

If a horse wins each leg of the Triple Crown, in 2016, the Jockey Club announced they would also give the winning horse an additional $1 million, according to Reuters.

The other high-paying race is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at $6 million, and the horse also has to share that purse with other top-placing winners.

While the state of Kentucky does not have the highest-paying horse race in the world with the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, what is important is that this race is held to determine the best of the breed out of the youngest Thoroughbred racing horses.

Once the Pegasus World Cup 2017 winners and horse racing results are posted, it will be clear who is the best in the breed of older horses in their post-Kentucky Derby careers. The same is also true of the Dubai World Cup, and the continuous victories of California Chrome after winning the Kentucky Derby are evident of this.

No matter what, the key is that, whether it is the Kentucky Derby, Melbourne World Cup, Royal Ascot, Pegasus World Cup, Breeders’ Cup, Woodbine, or the Dubai World Cup, the idea is that if a horse wins, the owner gets to charge huge stud fees that are often worth more than winning horse races.

For example, California Chrome is set to run and win at the 2017 Pegasus World Cup, and his handler mentioned he is already set up with 120 mares for the year. According to his stud rights owners, Taylor Made, California Chrome’s current stud fees are $40,000 per mare.

Although it seems like the breeders and owners of Thoroughbreds are the ones making the money, Kentucky has been tinkering with ideas to make Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby more fun for those that prefer horse racing gambling.

Interestingly, Meydan Racecourse, one of the primary places in the world that holds origins to the Thoroughbred breed via the Arabian Horse, does not have organized gambling for the Dubai World Cup like Churchill Downs facilitates for the Kentucky Derby.

While many bettors in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, and America place bets at horse racing tracks or online using the legal pari-mutuel betting systems, Kentucky lawmakers have been thinking of ways to make the Kentucky Derby even more profitable for bettors.

For instance, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, Kentucky lawmakers debated in the recent past about making a Kentucky Derby lottery.

The post time for the 2017 Pegasus World Cup on January 28 is 5:44 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The event is held at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The horses running the 2017 Pegasus World Cup can be seen on NBC from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

The current starting gate/post positions for the horses are as follows: (1) Arrogate, Prayer for Relief, Neolithic, Noble Bird, (5) War Story, War Envoy, Shaman Ghost, Semper Fortis, Keen Ice, (10) Breaking Lucky, Eragon, California Chrome.

So far, no scratches have been posted to the racing form for the 2017 Pegasus World Cup.

[Feature Image by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images]