Leroy Pegasus beats Los Alamitos closure, field

San Luis Rey Training Center horse Leroy Pegasus returned from a 14-month break from racing and sandwiched his first-ever win between the shutdowns of two tracks.

“I’m very proud of him,” trainer Sam Nichols said. “He deserved it.”

After Turf Paradise canceled its races indefinitely due to the coronavirus epidemic, Nichols entered Leroy Pegasus in the second race, March 29, at Los Alamitos Race Course. That event was the final day of racing before that track was closed due to the quarantine; Golden Gate Fields also shut down after the March 29 races, and Santa Anita Park has not raced since March 22, so Leroy Pegasus also became the final San Luis Rey horse to win a race in California before the shutdowns.

Leroy Pegasus had not finished higher than fifth in any of the 5-year-old’s previous races. He finished fifth twice, both during the 2018 Del Mar Thoroughbred Club fall meet.

Leroy Pegasus made his debut during the 2018 Del Mar summer meet and finished seventh among the nine horses. His most recent race before his Los Alamitos win was Jan. 25, 2019, when he finished sixth among the seven horses at Santa Anita.

“Their first race back is usually just like a refresher course,” Nichols said.

The 14-month layup was due to a left hind ankle injury.

“It just took him a while to get back up,” Nichols said.

Salvador Orozco, who is also based at San Luis Rey, had trained Leroy Pegasus for the horse’s first five races, but during the layup owners Jose Luis Gonzalez and Vincente Ruiz moved Leroy Pegasus to Nichols’ barn.

“They just needed to make a change,” Nichols said. “They wanted to go in a different direction.”

Nichols said that Orozco didn’t necessarily make any mistakes with the horse.

“The guy’s not any better, any worse than me. They just parted ways,” Nichols said. “It happens all the time.”

The Turf Paradise track is in Phoenix. Nichols shipped Leroy Pegasus to Arizona for a five-furlong workout March 1 at Turf Paradise. The plan was to run the horse in a March 14 race.

“The day he was scheduled to run they closed racing at Turf Paradise, so we had to ship him back,” Nichols said.

Nichols plans to keep Leroy Pegasus in California.

“We won’t ship him out again,” Nichols said.

On March 26, Nichols entered Leroy Pegasus in the March 29 race at Los Alamitos.

“He was ready to go,” Nichols said. “Sometimes when you get them fit if you don’t run him you go over to the other side.”

Leroy Pegasus ran in a maiden race for horses three years and upward.

“I had to find a maiden race,” Nichols said.

The race was 870 yards, or slightly less than four furlongs, on the dirt.

“If I could have found a tougher race for him, I probably would have,” Nichols said. “That just happened to be the one available.”

The instructions Nichols told jockey Erick Garcia focused on the directive: “If you let him out of the gate, you’ll win,” as Nichols knew that breaking out of the starting gate would likely be the biggest challenge.

“With all the rain, I hadn’t been able to work him out of the gate,” Nichols said.

Leroy Pegasus broke fifth among the six horses in the race.

“When they opened the gate he just fell down to his knees,” Nichols said.

That was only a temporary setback.

“He got up and ran,” Nichols said.

Leroy Pegasus started on the inside post.

“He already had the rail,” Nichols said.

As the horses entered the stretch Leroy Pegasus was in front and led second-place Fed Hike by a head.

“At that point there was no way they were going to stop him," Nichols said.

Leroy Pegasus had a winning time of 46.738 seconds. He finished 2 1/2 lengths in front of Fed Hike, who crossed the finish line 3/4 of a length ahead of third-place Eurodollar.

Nichols now lives in Morro Hills and is originally from Orange County. He has been training at San Luis Rey for approximately six years, and his first race as a trainer was at Santa Anita Jan. 17, 2016. His horse, Miss Napper Tandy, finished last among the six entries in that 5 1/2-furlong race.

Miss Napper Tandy gave Nichols his first win as a trainer Feb. 17, 2018, when she won a six-furlong race at Santa Anita. Nichols had two wins with Miss Napper Tandy in 2019 and two other wins in 2019 with Rmanie’s Grey Suit.

“I kind of pride myself on getting the most out of them,” Nichols said.

The wins gave Nichols a reputation.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” he said.

Nichols explained that his horses became desirable when they were entered in a claiming race. The March 29 race at Los Alamitos was not a claiming race.

“You couldn’t lose him,” Nichols said.

The win was the eighth for Nichols in his 54th career start. The race had a total purse of $7,200 and the first-place share of $3,710 brought Leroy Pegasus’ career earnings to $6,411.

Nichols’ parents, Ted and Judy, owned racehorses including Teddy's Promise, whose 11 career wins included seven stakes wins and whose other races included two Breeders’ Cup sprints. Ron Ellis trained Teddy’s Promise, whose wins included the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita in 2011.

Nichols’ parents, who have since moved to Virginia, were living in Morro Hills when Nichols moved to San Diego County.

“We moved down here to help with that,” he said.

At one time Nichols worked in the cellular technology field and owned horses, but the expense of horse ownership led him into becoming a trainer.

“I’m happy I did it,” he said.

Initially Nichols trained his own horses.

“Just recently I’ve gotten quite a few customer horses,” he said.

San Luis Rey is approximately 6 miles from Nichols’ home.

“I think we have a great group,” he said of the facility.

Leroy Pegasus was foaled in California April 18, 2015. He was sired by Bad Bad Leroy Brown out of Judge’s Pegasus.

“The owners are figuring out where we put him next,” Nichols said.

If horse racing has resumed, Nichols hopes that Leroy Pegasus will run again in three or four weeks.

“I like to give him a good recovery period,” Nichols said.

The March 29 race likely won’t extend the recovery period.

“That particular race didn’t take a lot out of him,” Nichols said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].