Asmussen confident Gun Runner can surmount obstacles in Whitney

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – One horse’s connections are looking to run a rabbit against him, and the long-range forecast calls for rain.

But six days before Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, trainer Steve Asmussen seemed worry-free about Gun Runner, the probable odds-on favorite in the prestigious 1 1/8-mile race for older males.

Gun Runner completed preparations for the Whitney on Sunday morning by working an easy half-mile in 49.87 seconds over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. Gun Runner went his opening eighth in 12.94 seconds, a quarter in 25.29, and got his final quarter in 24.58 with his ears up and exercise rider Angel Garcia barely nudging him to finish. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.31.

“He breezed well, cool morning, everything’s going smoothly,” Asmussen said. “Hope for a good week.”

Gun Runner, coming off a dominant seven-length victory in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 17, will be an overwhelming favorite against what likely will be five rivals in the Whitney. Keen Ice (the Suburban winner), War Story (the Brooklyn winner), Cautious Giant (a rabbit for War Story), Breaking Lucky (an unlucky fourth in the Woodward here last year), and Tu Brutus (the 11-length winner of the Flat Out Stakes this year) are the other expected starters.

Entries for the Whitney were to be taken and post positions assigned Tuesday evening at Sperry’s, a restaurant in downtown Saratoga Springs.

Owner Ron Paolucci of Loooch Racing said he still plans to run Cautious Giant in the Whitney as a rabbit to make sure Gun Runner doesn’t have things his own way on the front end. That and a long-range forecast calling for rain didn’t seem to faze Asmussen on a glorious Sunday morning at Saratoga.

“It looks like it’s going to rain, definitely off tracks haven’t been his thing,” Asmussen said. “That’s out of our control. We need to concentrate on anything we have to do with.”

War Story worked five furlongs in 1:00 on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

“He’s doing super, I can’t wait for this race,” trainer Jorge Navarro said. “He went in company, was five lengths back at the quarter pole, and blew by the other horse like nothing. He went five-eighths in a minute and out six furlongs in 1:13. Eddie Castro worked him for me, and he said he had to slow him down a little because of [a] loose horse on the track at the time. I also loved the way he trained over the track up there [Saratoga] last week, so I really couldn’t be happier with the way he’s coming up to the race.”

Tu Brutus, third as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Brooklyn last out, is entered in Thursday’s $100,000 Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga. But trainer Gary Contessa said Sunday that he likely will scratch to run in the Whitney. On Monday, Tu Brutus worked a half-mile in 50.61 seconds.

“It’s a Grade 1 worth over a million dollars,” Contessa said of the Whitney. “You take Gun Runner out of there, no question we’d be running. A Grade 1 means a lot more next to his name than the Birdstone.”

The forecast this week at Saratoga calls for a chance of thunderstorms Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch