White Abarrio works four furlongs for Whitney Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - White Abarrio joined a handful of other leading candidates for the much-anticipated, $1 million, Grade 1, Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 to get in a serious work this weekend at Saratoga, breezing four furlongs in 46.87 seconds over the main track on Sunday per Daily Racing Form with regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.
White Abarrio broke off a length behind and outside stablemate Midtown Lights before edging nearly three lengths clear at the wire while never asked for his best from Ortiz. He galloped out five furlongs while kept off the rail into the clubhouse turn in 59.67. Even more significantly, White Abarrio switched leads pretty much on cue in early stretch after remaining on his left lead all the way to the finish line in his previous drill here six days earlier.
“It was a good work, a strong work,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “A little quicker than you’d want, but he did it the right way and Irad was just making sure he sat on him at the end. Last week he didn’t switch off his left lead, but today, with Irad on him, he switched perfectly.”
White Abarrio is coming off a disappointing performance in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in which he finished fourth, beaten nearly 10 lengths by the gate-to-wire winner Magnitude, over a sloppy racetrack. In his two previous starts this season, White Abarrio, who has banked nearly $8.6 million in his career, finished second in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park before upsetting Sovereignty to win the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap.
“We’ve had a clean run since the Pegasus, obviously he showed it in Arkansas, then didn’t run as strongly as we’d expected at Churchill,” Joseph said. “And we believe that was because of the wet track. He went into the race as good as he did at Oaklawn, and it was the first time I can ever remember him sitting a perfect trip and not firing.”
And after watching the work Sunday, Joseph has a lot of confidence that White Abarrio will bounce back in a big way in the Whitney.
“It’s going to be a tough race, but we like the way the pace scenario figures to set up, with Phileas Fogg obviously at his best on the lead, Magnitude, who also has plenty of speed, and the versatile filly Nitrogen in the field,” Joseph reasoned. “It should be honest up front and hopefully he can be sitting right behind them.”
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