Five-horse Whitney field all muscle, no fat

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There may only be five horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, but the race still has a gangs-all-here feel to it.

In Silver State, Maxfield, Knicks Go, and By My Standards, the race has four of the top-six ranked older male dirt horses, according to the weekly rankings of Daily Racing Form’s Dan Illman. Add in Swiss Skydiver, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2020, and you have plenty of quality, if not quantity.

The race is so strong that Silver State, who carries a six-race winning streak into the race, including a victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 5, was made the 4-1 third choice by David Aragona behind Knicks Go (6-5) and Maxfield (8-5).

“I don’t think there’s a weak link in the race,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Silver State for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton. “How the racetrack’s playing is going to have a lot to say about the outcome.”

The field, in post order, is By My Standards (Gabriel Saez to ride), Silver State (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Swiss Skydiver (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Knicks Go (Joel Rosario), and Maxfield (Jose Ortiz).

Silver State’s six-race winning streak began last October in a seven-furlong allowance race at Keeneland. He’s won three races around one turn and three around two turns, including the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at 1 1/8 miles, the distance of the Whitney.

Though Asmussen typically works his horses an easy half-mile five days out from a race, Silver State on Wednesday morning worked a sharp half-mile in 49.75 seconds over the Oklahoma training track, going a final quarter in 24.25.

“He’s a big, strong horse doing really well,” Asmussen said. “Thought he went beautifully this morning. He’s moving really loose.”

Knicks Go has won five of seven starts in 2020-2021, coinciding with a move to trainer Brad Cox’s barn. He is 5 for 5 in races run around two turns, including the Breeder’s Cup Dirt Mile, Pegasus World Cup and, most recently, the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap by 10 1/4 lengths on July 2. Knicks Go arrived in Saratoga on Tuesday after spending the bulk of the last month at Ellis Park, where his regular exercise rider is working.

“He shipped in yesterday, galloped over the main track this morning, seemed to settle in nice,” Cox said. “Excited about the opportunity on Saturday.”

By My Standards finished second to Improbable after a poor start in the Whitney last year. In two starts this year, he won the Oaklawn Mile and finished second, again with a troubled start, to Silver State in the Met Mile.

Trained by Ken McPeek, Swiss Skydiver is here more out of necessity than by design. She was stuck in quarantine for three weeks due to a case of equine herpesvirus found in a horse stabled in the same barn as Swiss Skydiver but not trained by McPeek. That forced Swiss Skydiver to miss the Shuvee.

Swiss Skydiver, who hasn’t run since finishing third to Letruska in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 10, took down Authentic in last year’s Preakness Stakes. Swiss Skydiver won the Grade 1 Alabama going 1 1/4 miles over this track last August.

The Whitney winner earns an automatic berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

The Whitney will be race 10 on a 12-race card that includes the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational, Grade 1 Test, Grade 2 Glens Falls, and the listed Lure Stakes. First post is 12:35 p.m.