GULFSTREAM — By Miami New Times

Regardless of what you think of horse-racing tycoon Frank Stronach, it can never be said that the man has half-assed anything.

Take the statue outside Gulfstream Park, which Stronach once owned and operated. (His daughter, Belinda, has since taken the reins.) It is hardly unusual for a horse track to have a statue of a horse on its property, but it is highly unusual for that horse to have wings, to be battling a dragon, to be constructed from hundreds of tons of bronze and steel, and to stand 110 feet tall.

But, hey, that’s Frank, and when he turned his attention to Gulfstream hosting a marquee racing event that would put it in the ring with the likes of Churchill Downs, he did so with similarly garish zeal. The result was the Pegasus World Cup, named for the aforementioned enormous statue.

Mirroring Stronach’s penchant for extravagance, the winners of the World Cup and World Cup Turf Invitational will receive 20-inch crystal replicas of the winged Pegasus that are valued at around $40,000 apiece.

This year’s post-race musical headliner is Calvin Harris, one of the planet’s most successful electronic music DJs who bears the distinction of being among Taylor Swift’s many exes.

Read the full story by Mike Seely here.