City Of Light emerged through the gloom at Gulfstream Park to win the third running of the Pegasus World Cup.
The post time for the $9 million invitational contest was brought forward almost 10 minutes due to the evening drawing in and conditions worsening rapidly, but that didn't stop City Of Light storming home in the hands of Javier Castellano.
Michael McCarthy's five-year-old blitzed his rivals in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs and followed up in tremendous style with a dominant performance from the front.
The sloppy track was favouring front-running horses throughout the Pegasus World Cup card and City Of Light made no mistake from the perfect draw in stall three.
The well-backed 2/1 chance turned for home with a lead over Breeders' Cup Classic hero Accelerate and it looked like the big match-up was going to play out but City Of Light found an extra gear in tough conditions to pull right away, with 33/1 outsider Seeking The Soul running on to grab third from 5/4 favourite Accelerate.
An emotional McCarthy said: "I can't believe it and I can't believe the fashion in which he did it. I'm not sure I have words yet but this horse will be missed."
City Of Light's comfortable victory in Southern Florida will be his last appearance on a track as he's set to head to stud and not race on in 2019.
Castellano said: "I like the way he performed and all credit to Michael to prepare him for that race. It was very easy and everything worked out great. I'd like to thank connections for the opportunity."
Earlier on the card, Aidan O'Brien's Magic Wand came close to big-race glory when second in the inaugural running of the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes.
Ridden by Wayne Lordan, last year's Royal Ascot Ribblesdale Stakes winner came through to grab second as victory went to Bricks And Mortar, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr and trained by 'turf king' Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables.