HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Art Collector, the richest horse coming into Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup Invitational, was a whole lot richer coming out, earning the major share of a $3 million purse after parlaying a superbly orchestrated ride by jockey Junior Alvarado into a convincing 4 1/2-length victory over Defunded in the marquee event of the 2022-23 Gulfstream Park Championship meet. Art Collector, a 6-year-old by Bernardini, had already earned owner-breeder Bruce Lunsford $2,332,490 prior to making his 2023 debut in the nine-furlong Pegasus World Cup. The majority of his earnings had come from back-to-back victories in the 2021 and 2022 Charles Town Classic and his lone Grade 1 win prior to Saturday in the 2021 Woodward at Belmont Park. Alvarado picked up the mount on Art Collector for the first time after regular jockey Luis Saez, who guided him to all three of his major victories over the past two seasons, opted to take the call on Get Her Number, runner-up in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile in his previous start.  The Cigar Mile had also been a goal for Art Collector, but trainer Bill Mott said he had to bypass the race after his horse came down with a foot abscess at the end of October Mott and Alvarado mapped out a different kind of trip in the Pegasus for Art Collector, who had been on or within a length of the lead during the early stages of all eight of his previous victories at a mile and one-eighth or longer, after looking over the field for this year’s Pegasus World Cup. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “Junior was the rider we decided to go to when Saez chose a different mount and I have to give him a lot of credit, he couldn’t have ridden him more perfectly,” said Mott. “We talked about it beforehand how the race might shape up. Junior allowed him to settle right in behind the pace today. Junior was comfortable, the horse was comfortable, we just had to hope that when it was time to go the horse would respond. “He liked the fact he was allowed to settle and breathe and conserve that energy. Junior did a great job today and he [Art Collector] had something left when he turned for home.”       Breaking from the middle of the field in post 6, Alvarado positioned Art Collector within easy striking distance, about 2 1/2 lengths off the lead of the pacesetting Stilleto Boy, exiting the clubhouse turn. Art Collector rated kindly for five furlongs before taking his cue and advancing three wide to challenge the leaders midway on the second turn. Art Collector stuck his head in front at the top of the stretch, edged clear despite switching leads a bit late before increasing his advantage steadily under vigorous urging to the end. Defunded was snugged early stalking Stilleto Boy, came on even terms with that rival entering the stretch, battled on gamely but proved no match for the winner while clearly second best. Stilleto Boy weakened gradually but held on to finish third, a length and one-quarter behind Defunded and a similar margin in front of another outsider, the 50-1 Last Samurai, who rallied mildly to be fourth. Proxy dropped back early and was never a serious factor, passing tired rivals to be fifth while 2-1 favorite Cyberknife checked in a disappointing sixth, racing wide much of the way after breaking from a disadvantageous position in post 10. Stablemates Skippylongstocking and White Abarrio finished seventh and eighth, respectively, followed by Get Her Number, Simplification, O’Connor, and Ridin with Biden, who was being eased at the finish. Art Collector, who added another $1,680,000 to his bankroll, completed the distance over a fast track in 1:49.44 while registering his 11th win in 21 career starts. He earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, which equals his career high from the Woodward. :: Get ready for Gulfstream Park racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  “I told Bruce we were going to miss the Cigar Mile so let’s go to Florida where we have the option of the Harlan’s Holiday and then the Pegasus,” Mott said. “We didn’t really feel we had him quite right for the Harlan’s Holiday a month ago, so we just waited and Bruce was fine with running straight away in the Pegasus and the horse was obviously fine with it and he allowed us to get a good series of works into him and he was feeling good.” Alvarado said things don’t always work out as planned, strategy wise, in any given race, but fortunately he was able to orchestrate exactly the trip he and Mott were hoping to get for Art Collector.  “We studied the race a little bit, looking for horses with speed in the race,” said Alvarado. “Sometimes when you leave the gate plans change, but today everything was meant to be. It worked out great. We got out of there running, had a great spot all the way around and when I asked him to run he was there for me and gave me a hell of a run from the quarter pole.”   Mott said there are no specific plans moving forward for Art Collector. “We know he’s a horse who runs well fresh and we’ll work backwards from some of the bigger races that we’d like to run in from the course  of the year,” said Mott. “We’re not going to be in a hurry to run him back.”  :: DRF Bets players have exclusive access to FREE DRF Past Performances - Classic or Formulator! Join today.  Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Defunded for trainer Bob Baffert, said “I had a beautiful trip. We wanted a clean break and we got it. He put me in a perfect spot and we got beat. We were second best today.” Trainer Brad Cox said it just didn’t look like Cyberknife fired his best race in his career finale. He is scheduled to stand stud this season at Spendthrift Farm.    “He had a little bit of a wide trip and at the three-eighths I could kind of tell he wasn’t traveling,” said Cox. “He broke well but they got away from him. It wasn’t to be. It didn’t work out.” All sources handle on the 13-race Pegasus World Cup program totaled $43,886,541 surpassing the event record set last year by less than $10,000. - additional reporting by Marty McGee :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.