HALLANDALE, Fla. _ The conditions were miserable.
The track was sloppy. It was pouring rain. And it was dark.
But it was picture perfect for one horse, City of Light, who won the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park, pulling away for a 5} length victory in the nation's richest race.
"Easy," said winning jockey Javier Castellano.
City of Light made it look that way, leaving his 11 rivals _ including champion Accelerate _ splattered with mud as he pulled away for a convincing win.
Winning trainer Michael McCarthy, when asked why he seemed so emotional as he wiped away tears (or perhaps it was raindrops), gave the logical response: "Nine million reasons."
McCarthy, of course, was referring to the total purse, from which the winner received $4 million.
City of Light was the only horse to defeat Accelerate last year. But that victory came way back in April, before Accelerate found his stride and reeled off four straight wins, including the Breeders' Cup Classic in November.
The Classic-to-Pegasus path had proven successful in the past for Arrogate in 2017 and Gun Runner last year.
But it didn't work for Accelerate, who made a challenging move on City of Light at the top of the stretch but didn't have the late kick to keep up. He ended up finishing third as Seeking the Soul rallied to take second.
"He ran a good race today in tough conditions," said Accelerate's trainer, John Sadler. "Today was tough. You saw the track, how wet it was. It's dark. And you're slipping around out there. But he ran a really good race."
It was the first time since November of 2017 that Accelerate finished worse than second.
The conditions were clearly favorable for City of Light.
Throughout Saturday's racing card, front runners held a distinct advantage over horses that came from off the early pace.
And City of Light, blessed with front-running early speed, used it to his advantage, bursting to early contention with Patternrecognition, putting away that rival at the final turn, and making easy work of it the rest of the way.
City of Light was sent off by bettors at second-choice odds of 9-5.
Last year, in addition to defeating Accelerate in the Oaklawn Handicap, the horse capped off his year with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Now, like Accelerate, he is being retired from racing and headed off to stud duty in Kentucky. In fact, both City of Light and Accelerate will be loaded on the same van on Sunday and driven to Lane's End Farm near Lexington to begin their breeding careers.
"We're going to walk out of here with our heads high," Sadler said.
Perhaps not as high as the connections for City of Light, who is owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Warren Jr.
Their horse won convincingly, with Castellano requiring only mild urging to record the lopsided win.
City of Light raced only 11 times in his career, winning six times and never finishing worse than third. He retired with $5.6 million in career earnings, with the bulk of that coming Saturday, a day that belonged to him.
