Moreno faces deep field in Whitney title defense

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – We interrupt the delirium that is American Pharoah-mania to present a pretty sweet race for the older males in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga.

Seven of the 10 expected entrants for the Whitney, which offers a fees-paid berth into the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, are Grade 1 winners, including last year’s Whitney winner, Moreno, who could be sent off at double-digit odds in this year’s renewal.

Lea, the 2014 Donn Handicap winner, completed preparations for the Whitney on Monday by working a half-mile in 49.70 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Lea, the runner-up to fellow Whitney entrant Noble Bird in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap last out, went in quarter-mile fractions of 25.47 seconds and 24.23 under mild encouragement from exercise rider Neil Poznansky.

“That’s him,” trainer Bill Mott said of Lea.

Mott had the Whitney in mind for Lea last year. But following his victory in the Donn, Lea got sick and eventually was forced to miss the remainder of his 5-year-old season.

“His system didn’t come back to normal parameters for a long time,” Mott said. “We could have probably run at the end of the year, but we said, ‘Let’s forget this, get back to Florida, start there,’ which was a good decision.”

Lea won the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope in January and finished second to the Gulfstream Park-loving Constitution in the Donn in February. Lea then went to the United Arab Emirates, where he finished third behind Prince Bishop and California Chrome in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Lea recovered quickly from the Dubai trip and ran in the Stephen Foster on June 13, falling a neck short to Noble Bird.

“We didn’t win, but if it was nine furlongs and two jumps, we would have,” Mott said.

As of Monday, the 10 expected for the Whitney were, with riders, Coach Inge (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Honor Code (Javier Castellano), Lea (Joel Rosario), Liam’s Map (Mike Smith), Moreno (Cornelio Velasquez), Noble Bird (Shaun Bridgmohan), Normandy Invasion (Kerwin Clark), Tonalist (John Velazquez), V. E. Day (Junior Alvarado), and Wicked Strong (Luis Saez).

On Sunday, Metropolitan Handicap winner Honor Code had a bit of an adventurous morning before working a half-mile in 50.37 seconds over the main track. He was initially going to breeze on the Oklahoma training track but refused to break off and work. Trainer Shug McGaughey then had exercise rider Lena Lorieul take Honor Code to the main track, where he worked without incident.

McGaughey said he still intends to run Honor Code in the Whitney, though he added, “We’ll see what kind of week he has and take it from there.”

Moreno, the winner of the Charles Town Classic in April, is coming off an eighth-place finish in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 27. Moreno, who worked six furlongs in 1:11.20 last Friday at Los Alamitos, was scheduled to ship to New York on Tuesday.

Normandy Invasion, second in two starts since returning from a layoff, worked four furlongs in 48.40 seconds Monday at Delaware Park.

The post-position draw for the Whitney was to be held Tuesday at Sperry’s, a popular downtown restaurant, at 6 p.m. Eastern.