Horse racing is one of the oldest sports in the world still played today, meaning it’s often the oldest and more established races that hold places of prestige in the calendar.

That might make it difficult for new events to make their mark and earn a place in the elite racing schedule, but the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes has managed to do just that in four years.

First held at Florida’s Gulfstream Park in 2017, the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes—the premier race of any World Cup weekend—once offered the biggest prize purse in the sport.

The $12 million prize pot offered in its inaugural year briefly made the Pegasus World Cup the most lucrative race in the world.

That reward has steadily dropped over the years, although today’s overall prize fund of $3 million still makes it one of the biggest races in the world, and therefore a prime opportunity for bettors.

Knicks Go is the runaway favorite to win the 2022 edition on January 29, but the jovial Life Is Good may have something to say about that with so much at stake.

International Business Times takes a deeper dive into the Pegasus World Cup’s inner working, complete with a horse racing betting guide to get more bang for your buck.

What’s the prize purse?

While $3 million admittedly isn’t as impressive as an amount four times that, the Pegasus World Cup is still deserving of its respect on the race calendar given the seven-figure award at stake.

Not only does the current prize figure put the event level with the Kentucky Derby in regards to winnings, but it’s also worth roughly the same as the Grand National and Epsom Derby combined .

That’s no small feat for a fixture that’s only been around for half a decade, and after some fluctuation in funds over the years, the prize money now looks to have hit a consistent mark after being kept at the same amount for three years straight.

Considering it’s such a new fixture among the annual horse racing calendar, it shouldn’t be a surprise that entertainment and the winnings on offer are mentioned as two of the event’s major selling points.

“Launched in 2017 as part of 1/ST’s mission to excite, energize and modernize the sport of racing for a new generation of fans, the Pegasus World Cup provides lucrative opportunities for thoroughbred owners and trainers,” reads a brief on the official Pegasus World Cup website.

“With historic wins from some of the most celebrated names in thoroughbred horse racing including Arrogate and 2021’s Knicks Go, Pegasus continues to draw the best in racing and entertainment through a continued focus on innovation.”

Can I bet on the 2022 Pegasus World Cup?

Betting on the Pegasus World Cup is simple provided sports betting is permitted in one’s country or state, and it’s only growing in popularity with bettors as the years go by.

In fact, betting trends indicate the upcoming edition of the Pegasus World Cup could attract more than one million bets in the United States, where an increasing number of territories have legalized sports gambling.

A great deal of the wagering attention in 2022 belongs to -138 front-runner Knicks Go, who is attempting to become the first race to successfully defend this particular crown at Gulfstream Park:

https://twitter.com/WHR/status/1484549849102045185

But while a heft of the pre-race attention may rest with Knicks Go, Life Is Good trainer Todd A. Pletcher has remained upbeat as his appears to be the one horse in the field with a real chance of challenging.

"Life Is Good we've been pointing for the Pegasus since the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” he said earlier in January. “He [Life Is Good] got a short freshening at WinStar and he's come in with that as our goal. Everything has gone according to plan. He's never run at Gulfstream, but he's the kind of horse where his style should suit Gulfstream well."