Volatile ready for his star turn in Alfred G. Vanderbilt

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – You can never replace a horse like Mitole, who retired after capping off his outstanding career with a victory in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. But trainer Steve Asmussen has returned to Saratoga this summer with another major player in the sprint division, the lightly raced but very fleet Volatile, who figures to go postward the favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap.

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Volatile enters the six-furlong Vanderbilt with four wins in five career starts. He has captured his only two outings in 2020 by a combined 15 1/2 lengths and is exiting an eight-length win in the Artistides on June 6 at Churchill Downs. He completed the distance in 1:07.57, just .02 of a second off the six-furlong course record.

“He’s an extremely fast horse, and we are going to need him to run like he did last time to win a Grade 1,” Asmussen said. “I’d love to see him be able to do that again. He’s a very impressive horse physically, his works have all been within himself, and the timing has been very good between races for him. Hopefully he’ll have the same affinity for Saratoga as his second dam, Lady Tak, did.”

Trained by Asmussen, Lady Tak won the Grade 1 Test in 2003 and Grade 1 Ballerina the following year at Saratoga.

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Volatile also will try to help Asmussen erase some of the memory of Mitole’s lone setback during his championship season, a third-place finish in the 2019 Vanderbilt. Volatile will carry 121 pounds on Saturday in his graded stakes debut, just two less than Grade 1 winners Whitmore and Mind Control and one less than Firenze Fire, who finished second here a year ago behind Mitole in the Grade 1 Forego. Lexitonian completes the field.

“For a horse with as limited amount of starts as he has had to be weighted the way he is in a Grade 1, it’s obvious the respect they are giving him,” Asmussen said.

Trainer Ron Moquett bypassed an allowance race at Keeneland to return Whitmore to the scene of his finest hour, his victory in the Grade 1 Forego during the summer of 2018. The 7-year-old Whitmore was scheduled to come back here a year ago to compete in the Vanderbilt, but was forced to bypass the race due to a minor foot ailment. Whitmore, idle since winning the Grade 3 Count Fleet Handicap at Oaklawn Park for a third time on April 18, has won 14 of 34 starts for earnings of more than $3.1 million.

“Winning the Forego was the highlight of my career,” Moquett said. “It’s one of the races I always wanted to win, just like this one, too. I’m not only a trainer but a fan as well, and these races are ones that really mean something when you win them.”

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Moquett said his original plan was to point Whitmore later this summer to the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Handicap. But when that race was not on the track’s revised 2020 stakes schedule, Moquett went to Plan B, bringing Whitmore back to Saratoga for the Vanderbilt instead.

“I’m excited,” Moquett said. “He seems as good as ever. I just hope we have him ready It’s a condensed field, but they’re all proven, good horses and the favorite could be this year’s freak.”

Mind Control began a three-race win streak with a victory in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens here last summer. That streak was snapped in his last start, a distant sixth-place finish over a sloppy strip in the Grade 1 Carter. Mind Control has won both his starts at Saratoga, having also won the Grade 1 Hopeful in just his second lifetime start.

Firenze Fire has won four of his last five tries, including a come-from-behind triumph in the Grade 2 True North on June 27 at Belmont Park. The outing was the second for Firenze Fire since joining trainer Kelly Breen’s barn earlier this year. He had previously been trained by Jason Servis, who earlier this year was charged with administering illegal medication to horses.