Pegasus may have issues taking flight

1:23 PM ET

On Wednesday afternoon, while the collective racing world was still getting over its Kentucky Derby hangover, The Stronach Group, operator of such tracks as Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita, and Pimlico, home of next week’s Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, made an announcement that woke everyone up.

The Stronach Group issued a press release announcing the creation of the world’s richest Thoroughbred race, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup, at 1-1/8 miles, to be run for the first time on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The press release stated that the Pegasus World Cup was the vision of Frank Stronach, Founder and Honorary Chairman of The Stronach Group, and inferred its purpose to be to “attract the world’s biggest stars while promoting and generating excitement and worldwide attention for Thoroughbred racing.”

As a lifelong Thoroughbred racing fan, I hope the Pegasus Cup doesn’t merely meet expectations, I hope it wildly exceeds them.

However, there are a few issues with the Pegasus Cup that, from the outline of the event provided so far, could prove to be major obstacles to success.

For one, the race will have 12 entrants who will pay $1 million each to secure a spot in …

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