Skippylongstocking flashed to the lead in deep stretch Saturday, passing stablemate White Abarrio to win the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational and give trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. the exacta in Gulfstream Park’s $3 million race.

It was the fourth Pegasus start and win in the race for Skippylongstocking (21-1), a 7-year-old multimillionaire entire by Exaggerator who is owned by Daniel Alonso. Tyler Gaffalione rode him from post 5 into seventh place around the first turn and up the backstretch.

Click here for Gulfstream Park entries and results.

Seven-year-old White Abarrio (3-1), who won last year, overcame post 10 to take the lead coming out of the second turn. It looked like Irad Ortiz Jr. would ride him to a first-ever Pegasus repeat until Skippylongstocking stormed past him to the outside and win by 1 3/4 lengths.

“Watching the races today we knew it was going to be tough coming from that far back, but he just found another gear today that we hadn’t seen before,” Alonso said. “To beat a champion like White Abarrio, it’s amazing.”

The winning time was 1:48.49 going 1 1/8 miles around two turns on the fast main track. The early fractions were 22.25, 46.08, 1:09.87 and 1:35.54.

“It was either he was going to show up or he was going to be retired,” Joseph said about Skippylongstocking. “He showed up, but he did better since (winning the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday on Dec. 20). I had all the confidence in him going into this race, but I was so focused on White Abarrio. I wanted Abarrio to come back and run in this race. I’m so proud of White Abarrio. I can’t believe how he ran for the preparation that he had, to come back the way he just did.”

Skippylongstocking returned $45.20, $14.20 and $7.20. Second-place White Abarrio paid $6.60 and $4.60. Full Serrano (9-1) came in third and paid $6.40 to show. Captain Cook (18-1) was fourth and British Isles (83-1) fifth.

Banishing (20-1), Lightning Tones (99-1), post-time favorite Disco Time (3-2), Mika (23-1), Poster (22-1), Brotha Kenny (64-1) and Tappan Street (3-1) were seventh through 12th in that order. Madaket Road and also-eligible Catalytic were scratched.

“Everything really went to plan,” Gaffalione said after the win, which was Skippylongstocking’s first in 12 Grade 1 tries. “Saffie told me just to ride him with a lot of confidence, be patient with him, trust in his ability, and he was there for me every step. The race set up the way we needed to. I was able to find a nice spot inside. He traveled well for me. Coming around the turn, he just kept building, and he just kept responding. When we got into the far turn I had to split horses, and as soon as I did, he took a nice deep breath and started moving forward.”

The win was worth $1,686,000 to Skippylongstocking, who upped his record to 36: 13-3-7 and his earnings to $5,461,250. White Abarrio added $562,000 for second and raised his career total to $7,713,920.

This was the 10th running of the Pegasus World Cup, which was born out of the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1). Its first three runnings for $12 million, $14 million and $9 million were built on the selling of starting slots. They went for $1 each the first two years then for $500,000 for the third running before the race settled into its current format as a traditional added-money stakes.