HALLANDALE BEACH, FL - True Timber is the second horse owned by Calumet Farm to be targeting the Pegasus. Earlier this week, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Bravazo, second in the Clark and third in the Dirt Mile, was Pegasus-bound.

“He ran a huge race in the Cigar Mile and he galloped out really strong, so we talked it over with the owners and decided to point for the Pegasus,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “It’s a big event and hopefully we get in there and run good and everything works out and we enjoy the day.”

True Timber was second in the Bold Ruler (G3) prior to the Dec. 1 Cigar Mile, both at Aqueduct, and before that won back-to-back optional claiming allowances at Belmont Park three months apart. He has placed in five career stakes, four graded.

“He’s in very good form right now. He’s a nice horse,” McLaughlin said. “He’s still in New York for now. We haven’t decided when to bring him down but we’ll get him here pretty soon.”

Based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, McLaughlin is a two-time winner of the Pegasus’ predecessor, the Donn Handicap (G1), with Albertus Maximus (2009) and Horse of the Year Invasor (2007).

“We were able to win the race with Invasor before he went to Dubai,” McLaughlin said. “We’re happy to be back in it and hope all goes well with the horse. We’ll point him that way.”