Irad Ortiz Jr. made a smart choice to ride Mucho Gusto, the winner of Pegasus World Cup

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. didn’t make his winning move during the running of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Saturday. Ortiz made it days beforehand when he spurned his regular mount — Spun to Run — in order to ride Mucho Gusto in the nation’s second-richest race.

That decision paid off handsomely at Gulfstream Park when Ortiz and Mucho Gusto blew past the field to score a 4 1/2 -length victory in a race that was depleted by the scratches of favorite Omaha Beach (leg injury) and second choice Spun to Run (skin disease).

“It worked out great,” Ortiz said.

Did it ever.

Trainer Bob Baffert had originally intended to run Mucho Gusto in the $200,000 San Pasqual Handicap in California. But when the horse trained so well for Baffert, he elected to send him to Florida for the much richer Pegasus.

“I thought, you know what, I’m just going to take a shot [at the Pegasus],” said Baffert, who watched the race unfold from his home base in California. “Who would know that the race would fall apart [with the scratch of Omaha Beach]?”

But Baffert needed a rider for his horse, and he requested Ortiz, who was named the nation’s champion jockey for the second straight year in Eclipse Award ceremonies on Thursday.

It left Ortiz with a tough decision. He already had a commitment to ride Spun to Run, who had defeated Omaha Beach in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile back in November. But this was a chance to ride for Baffert, one of the nation’s premier trainers.

“We tried to keep everyone happy,” Ortiz said. “But it’s a business, though, and that’s the business sometimes.”

Ortiz said he felt badly for Spun to Run’s trainer, Juan Carlos Guerrero.

“He’s a good friend of mine,” Ortiz said. “I wish all the best for him and his horse. I’m pretty sure he’s going to turn the page.”

It turned into a bad week altogether for Guerrero when he was forced to scratch Spun to Run on Thursday due to a skin disease.

When Omaha Beach also scratched later the same day, it created a wide-open Pegasus.

Had Ortiz stuck with Spun to Run, he would have been left without a mount in the Pegasus. Instead, he picked up the winner’s share of the $3 million race and rode Mucho Gusto to perfection, breaking from the No. 10 post, sliding over to the rail to save ground along the backstretch, and rallying past the field for the win.

The 4-year-old colt finished well in front of Mr Freeze, the front-runner for the first mile of the 1 1/8-mile stakes. It was 3/4-length back to War Story for third. Higher Power, the 5-2 favorite, finished last.

Mucho Gusto, sent off as the second choice at odds of 3-1, paid his backers $8.80 for the win.

“Awesome week,” Ortiz said. “It’s a dream come true.”

Said Baffert: “Those [races] are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it.”

While the Pegasus headlined Saturday’s card, it wasn’t the day’s only seven-figure race.

Zulu Alpha hugged the rail throughout the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf under jockey Tyler Gaffalione and sprinted away for a 2-length victory over Magic Wand. Instilled Regard was third.

Magic Wand set the pace in the 1 3/16-mile turf stakes. But when the rail opened for Zulu Alpha at the top of the stretch, Gaffalione shot through to prevail for the win at odds of 11-1.

“We just stayed on the fence and he really exploded down in there and finished the job,” Gaffalione said.

Winning owner Michael Hui said he let out a yell when Zulu Alpha moved through on the rail.

“When he shot up the rail, I screamed my lungs out,” Hui said. “I just watched, stood and screamed.

“It’s just an unbelievable feeling.”

The 7-year-old Zulu Alpha was racing for the first time since his fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in early November.

“I thought he got unlucky in the Breeders’ Cup or he might have gotten a bigger slice there,” said winning trainer Mike Maker.