Smith hoping for smoother sailing on McKinzie in Whitney; Thunder Snow scratched

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mike Smith left Belmont Park following his second-place finish on McKinzie in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap wishing he had a do-over.

Twice in the stretch, Smith tried to advance McKinzie only to find Thunder Snow in his path. Once Smith found running room late, he was able to rally McKinzie past Thunder Snow, but had to settle for second, three-quarters of a length behind Mitole.

“Not taking anything away from Mitole, I think he’s an amazing horse, but I left the Met Mile thinking if I just had a clear trip I’d have had a heck of a shot at it,” Smith said Thursday.

Smith gets his do-over of sorts Saturday at Saratoga when he rides McKinzie in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, the centerpiece of an 11-race card that includes the Grade 1 Test featuring Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress, the Grade 3 Troy, and two other ungraded turf stakes.

The afternoon will also feature a celebration of the life of Marylou Whitney, the Queen of Saratoga, who died on July 19 at the age of 93.
McKinzie, trained by Bob Baffert for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, will face six rivals, including Grade 1 winners Vino Rosso and Yoshida as well as the Grade 2 Suburban winner Preservationist. The Whitney offers a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

McKinzie was expected to get a rematch with Thunder Snow, but that horse was scratched on Saturday morning due to a temperature, according to trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Thunder Snow, the 3-1 co-second choice on the morning line, went to the track early Saturday morning but was coughing when he got back to the barn, according to Suroor. He was later discovered to have a temperature.

Though he was next-to-last early in the Met Mile, McKinzie has shown tactical speed in his previous two-turn races that included a Grade 1 victory in last fall’s Pennsylvania Derby. In the Alysheba, on May 3 at Churchill Downs, McKinzie was actually on the lead, then dropped back while staying inside before going outside of Tom’s d’Etat at the quarter pole and drew off by 4 3/4 lengths.

“He just wasn’t comfortable down inside there in the Alysheba,” said Smith, who won the 1993 Whitney on Brunswick. “I let him back out of it and see what he would do. Once I did he collected himself, got up underneath himself, then I was like ‘whoa, now I hope I can get out of here.’ ”

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There is no confirmed front-runner among the eight horses entered in the Whitney, contested at 1/8 miles. Smith said depending how McKinzie breaks from post 6, he could find himself on the lead.

“He’s training really well, he might leave there running,” Smith said. “If he does that I don’t ever take away anything that comes easy for him. I know when he’s happy and comfortable, he’s going to run well. If they go quick early he’ll sit off them a little bit, if they don’t he’ll be up there.”

Preservationist was never more than a length off the pace in the Suburban in which he drew off to a dominant 4 1/4-length victory over Catholic Boy. Saturday, Preservationist breaks from the outside post and trainer Jimmy Jerkens said he wouldn’t mind if Junior Alvarado has him close up early.

“It’d be nice if he breaks and he can cross over and lay second or third in a nice easy, way, there’s nothing wrong with that I don’t think,” Jerkens said.

Preservationist blew out three furlongs in 37.13 seconds over the Oklahoma training track on Thursday.

Vino Rosso is coming off a victory in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita where he was close to solid fractions. The first quarter of a mile of that race, however, is run down a straightaway.

“On paper, we’re going to have to leave there and establish some forward position going into the first turn then it’s going to be up to Johnny [Velazquez] to sort it out from there,” Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Vino Rosso said.

The connections of Yoshida hope for some pace as their horse does his best running from off the pace, as evidenced by his victory in last year’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes here. He ended his 4-year-old season with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but has gone off form this year with a trio of sixth-place finishes, most recently in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs.

Longshots Imperative, Forewarned and Monongahela, the latter coming off a four-length victory in the Grade 3 Iselin at Monmouth Park on June 22, complete the Whitney field.