SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Dispiritedness and disappointment were the dominant emotions of the day Saturday at Saratoga. Rick Dutrow knew those feelings all too well for 10 years. On Saturday - his 64th birthday to boot - Dutrow got to again enjoy the feeling of winning a major race when White Abarrio galloped to a 6 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes. “This is the best present I ever had for my birthday,” Dutrow said. It was Dutrow’s biggest win since he resumed training four months ago after serving a 10-year suspension for a bevy of medication violations and general disregard for authority. His last Grade 1 win came here in 2012 when Willy Beamin captured the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes. “I don’t look back at that, I just look forward,” Dutrow said when asked about his suspension. “We’re heading to the Breeders’ Cup with this horse the right way and that is a thrill.” :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  The Whitney victory earned White Abarrio a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. Dutrow indicated that he likely would train White Abarrio up to the Classic. To win the Whitney, White Abarrio had to put an end to one of the feel-good stories in racing. Cody’s Wish, named for a teenager with a rare genetic disorder, was the heavy Whitney favorite, but couldn’t overcome a stutter-step start or the 1 1/8 miles and finished third, beaten 10 lengths. While the performance of Cody’s Wish was certainly disappointing, it was what happened earlier on the card that created dispiritedness. The undefeated filly Maple Leaf Mel, less than 10 yards from victory in the Grade 1 Test Stakes, stumbled and suffered a catastrophic injury that silenced a stunned crowd. Maple Leaf Mel, owned by Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells and trained by Melanie Giddings, suffered a comminuted fracture of her right front fetlock and had to be euthanized. Her jockey, Joel Rosario, was taken to Albany Medical Center for stitches in his lower gums. Many on track on a beautiful day at Saratoga and those viewing on a national broadcast by Fox were likely hoping for the feel-good Cody’s Wish story to continue. The horse had developed a bond with Cody Dorman, a teenager with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschborn Syndrome and who is confined to a wheelchair. Dorman and his family had attended many of the horse’s races and were on hand Saturday, their first visit to Saratoga. Cody’s Wish had not previously been successful at 1 1/8 miles. He had won nine of his last 10 starts, six in a row including the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. On Saturday, Cody’s Wish, under Junior Alvarado, broke awkwardly. He was last while Giant Game set the pace with White Abarrio glued to him from the outside. Cody’s Wish tried to make a run entering the far turn, but his move was short-lived. “When I hit the three-eighths pole I was very worried, I never got this feeling with him before and today I knew I was in trouble,” Alvarado said. “I still was trying to feel confident to keep him going, but right when he switched to the right [lead] he got flat on me.” Conversely, White Abarrio, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., was anything but flat. Third to Cody’s Wish in the Met Mile, White Abarrio was into the Whitney from the outset Saturday. He was within a half-length of Giant Game through six furlongs in 1:11.81. Approaching the five-sixteenths pole, White Abarrio had poked a head in front. Ortiz had not yet asked him to run. In upper stretch, when Ortiz asked, White Abarrio answered and drew away. “The horse was ready, he took me all the way to the quarter pole, nice and easy,” Ortiz said. “When I asked him, he was there for me.’ Zandon, who had finished second in the Met Mile, rallied for second again Saturday, 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Cody’s Wish. Charge It was fourth followed by Giant Game and Last Samurai. White Abarrio, a son of Race Day, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.45 and returned $22.40 as the fourth choice. He was given a 110 Beyer Speed Figure. White Abarrio entered the Whitney picture only late last weekend. He was being pointed to the Grade 1 Forego, a seven-furlong race here on Aug. 26. But when Dutrow and the owners - the C2 Racing Stable of Clint and Mark Cornett and partner Antonio Pagnano - saw how well Forego contenders Elite Power and Gunite ran in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt last week and were alerted the Whitney was coming up light numbers-wise, they opted for this spot. “Shorter field, we thought this was our best opportunity,” Clint Cornett said. Dutrow said White Abarrio’s last work on July 28 was a slow half-mile in 51.20 seconds. So, Saturday morning, Dutrow blew White Abarrio out a quarter-mile down the Saratoga stretch. Dutrow had famously done that with Big Brown before his victory in the 2008 Kentucky Derby. “I love doing that,” Dutrow said. The circumstances of Dutrow even getting White Abarrio in his barn stem from the unexplained deaths of two of trainer Saffie Joseph’s horses at Churchill Downs the week prior to the Kentucky Derby. Because of that circumstance, Joseph was not permitted to run horses at Kentucky tracks. Moreover, the New York Racing Association also restricted his ability to stable and run horses at its tracks. Desiring to run in the Met Mile, the owners of White Abarrio opted to move him and another horse to Dutrow. “Rick was just coming off his suspension and a hell of a trainer so we said you know what, let’s send him to Rick and see what he can do with him,” Cornett said. “And you saw today, he did a hell of a job with him.” Dutrow only attended the Whitney because his friend, the horse owner Sanford Goldfarb, charted a private plane from Long Island. Dutrow was heading from the winner’s circle to the airport to return home. “I got to be at work in the morning down there,” Dutrow said. “I just don’t have my help right and I just got to get back.” Oh, Dutrow’s back all right. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.