C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal start partnership with White Abarrio

Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has purchased a share in Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio as part of new partnership with C2 Racing Stable, according to C2 Racing owner and racing manager Mark Cornett. White Abarrio will make his next start in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 24.

“We have sold a percentage of White Abarrio to Prince Faisal and are looking forward to a nice long partnership with him both internationally, in Saudi, and in the U.S.,” Cornett explained. “We still own the majority interest in the horse, over 50 percent. He will run in Prince Faisal’s colors, represent him over there [in the Saudi Cup], and if the horse comes out of the race the right way, we’re probably going to look to run in the Dubai World Cup. After that, he will come back to New York, get ready for the Met Mile, the Saratoga meet, the Whitney, and the Breeders’ Cup.”

White Abarrio won 3 of 5 starts in 2023, capping the season with a one-sided victory in the Grade 1 Whitney and a one-length triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He is currently considered a leading candidate for Horse of the Year honors along with Cody’s Wish. White Abarrio began his career in South Florida with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and was transferred to trainer Rick Dutrow’s barn last spring, just prior to his third-place finish behind Cody’s Wish in the Met Mile.

Cornett said White Abarrio, who worked four furlongs in 47.60 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita, will remain with Dutrow throughout his 2024 campaign.

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“Rick originally planned on working him over the weekend but moved his work up to this morning because of weather coming in out there over the next several days,” Cornett said. “He said he looked great and galloped out like a monster and that he couldn’t be doing any better. Right now, the plan is for him to fly out on a chartered Qatar Freighter 777 from LAX on February 13 which will land, re-fuel, and pick up six more horses in Miami before continuing on directly to Riyadh.”

White Abarrio’s workout time on Friday was the sixth fastest of 73 recorded works at the distance.

“It’s the best I’ve ever seen him,” Dutrow said. “He’s more on it and into it.

“I’m thinking he does not need a fast breeze. He does it on his own.”

White Abarrio was ridden by Southern California-based exercise rider Emily Ellingwood, who has worked closely with Dutrow aboard White Abarrio and other horses in his stable in recent months.

Ellingwood exercised White Abarrio on a regular basis in the build-up to a win in the BC Classic at Santa Anita in November, the 5-year-old’s most recent start.

“I let him stretch his legs more than last week and he enjoyed that quite a bit,” Ellingwood said Friday.

Asked about White Abarrio’s current condition compared to last fall, Ellingwood expressed confidence that White Abarrio is in peak form.

“He’s just as sharp,” she said.

Dutrow said White Abarrio will continue working at Santa Anita before departing for Saudi Arabia.

“We’re as excited as we can be,” he said. “To go over to Saudi, I love the idea to race for that much money. To try to conquer a big race in another country, it’s exciting.”

Cornett said he would have loved to have been able to kick off White Abarrio’s 2024 season in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational next Saturday at Gulfstream Park had the timing been better. White Abarrio began his career locally and registered his first major victory at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in April 2022.

“If the timing were better, perhaps three weeks earlier, the spacing would have been ideal for him between the Breeders’ Cup to Pegasus and from there to Saudi,” Cornett said.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen

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