Mitole takes Count Fleet Sprint to extend winning streak to five

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mitole on Saturday at Oaklawn Park ended the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap reign of Whitmore, darting to a 2 3/4-length victory over the race’s two-time defending winner.

The Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet was the first of three stakes on the card featuring the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

The Count Fleet was the fifth straight win for Mitole ($2.80), whose victories have come by a combined 29 1/4 lengths. He was making his graded stakes debut in the race as Whitmore was seeking to become the first three-time winner of the meet’s premier sprint, introduced in 1974.

The conditions for the much-anticipated matchup were trying. There was wind and rain engulfing the track leading up to post time, and the horses remained in the saddling enclosure longer than usual until the brunt of the weather tempered.

Mitole broke from the rail on the sloppy, sealed surface and took the five-horse field through an opening quarter in 22.49 seconds, with Whitmore, who usually bids from off the pace, in close pursuit. Whitmore turned up the pressure around the turn as Mitole continued to lead through a half-mile in 45.54. In the stretch, Whitmore made another run at Mitole, who found more and went on to cover six furlongs in 1:09.36.

“He’s a special horse,” said Bill Heiligbrodt, who owns Mitole with his wife, Corinne. “I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of him yet. I don’t think we saw it today.”

Ricardo Santana Jr., who had been the regular rider for both Whitmore and Mitole, committed to Mitole for trainer Steve Asmussen.

“Since he was a young horse, I felt like he had a lot of talent,” Santana said. “Today, he proved it a lot.”

The Heiligbrodts purchased Mitole for $140,000 as a 2-year-old in training at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. in April 2017. He has won 6 of 9 starts and earned $701,510.

“He’s out of an Indian Charlie mare, and I think that’s where he gets a lot of his speed,” said Bill Heiligbrodt.

Heiligbrodt credited Asmussen with his handling of Mitole.

“Steve has patience, and he knew what to do to get this horse – as fast as he is – to where he is,” said Heiligbrodt.

The Count Fleet was a rare defeat at Oaklawn for Whitmore, a Grade 1 winner and earner of more than $2.5 million who ran second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Whitmore is now 7 for 11 at Oaklawn.

“Today was their day,” said Ron Moquett, who co-owns and trains Whitmore. “The short field, lone speed, that’s not his deal, the 22-and-change opening quarter. I’m proud of my horse.”

Mitole, a son of Eskendereya, had his winner’s-circle celebration and post-race presentation moved into the indoor paddock area due to the inclement weather.

It is for such celebrations as these that Mitole is named. Heiligbrodt said a mitole was a special ceremony that a now-extinct tribe from the Texas coast had when winning a great battle.

Mitole did just that Saturday.