Whitmore follows Phoenix-Breeders' Cup Sprint path for fourth straight year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In the fall of 2015, Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup for the first time. Less than a week later, Ron Moquett saddled an athletic chestnut gelding for a 7 1/4-length debut score at Churchill Downs.

Five years later, with Keeneland again preparing for the Breeders’ Cup, the ageless Whitmore appears in the Grade 2, $200,000 Phoenix for the fourth consecutive year, looking to go from the local prep to a Breeders’ Cup Sprint win at last. The elder statesman of the division, the 7-year-old Whitmore is joined in a field of 12 for Friday’s renewal by 3-year-olds No Parole and Echo Town, plus the versatile Diamond Oops.

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Whitmore has earned more than $3.1 million while winning 14 of 36 starts. He won the Phoenix in 2017 before finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. He finished a close second in the Phoenix each of the last two years before finishing second in the 2018 Sprint at Churchill and third last year at Santa Anita. Overall, the gelding has won 10 stakes, highlighted by the Grade 1 Forego in 2018 at Saratoga.

“He likes to run,” Moquett said. “I’ve had some horses that you can tell aren’t interested in racing after a while, but the horse always makes the decision of what they do in our barn. So we ask the questions, and with Whitmore, he’s always answered that he wants to go have fun and run.”

This year, Whitmore has been first or second in 4 of 5 outings. However, he is looking to rebound from his worst effort of the year, a seventh in the Forego on Aug. 29 on a sloppy track at Saratoga. He will get a dry track Friday as he breaks from post 3 under Joe Talamo, who rode him to a pair of wins earlier this year.

No Parole, trained by Tom Amoss, and Echo Town, trained by Steve Asmussen, traded decisions in Grade 1 stakes restricted to 3-year-olds. No Parole won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens in June at Belmont by 3 3/4 lengths over Echo Town, who came back for a rallying win the H. Allen Jerkens on Aug. 1 at Saratoga. No Parole led for the opening half of the Jerkens before fading to ninth.

No Parole, expected to be part of the Phoenix pace scenario, drew post 5 under Luis Saez. Echo Town is next door in post 6 as he cuts back in distance from a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile at Churchill last out.

Diamond Oops, who is approaching millionaire status, is a graded stakes winner sprinting on both dirt and turf. He won the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector last December on Gulfstream’s main track, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 105. That matches Whitmore’s figure in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint as the field’s top number in the last year. Most recently, Diamond Oops won the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on Sept. 4 at Churchill, making him the morning-line favorite for the Phoenix.

“He’s a multipurpose horse,” said Andie Biancone, assistant to her father, Patrick Biancone. “I think he is better on the dirt.”

Lexitonian was second by a nose in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar and came back to run fifth in the Forego. Absolutely Aiden won the Good Lord at Ellis Park last out and will use his speed from post 2.