Whitmore, Promises Fulfilled face younger challengers in Phoenix Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The dualities of continuity and change mark the major storylines for this renewal of the Grade 2, $250,000 Phoenix Stakes on Friday’s opening-day card at Keeneland, which awards its winner an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Last year, the upstart 3-year-old Promises Fulfilled, a Grade 1 winner in New York, came to the Phoenix to edge the older divisional standout Whitmore, the defending race winner, by a head. This year, Promises Fulfilled and Whitmore get a rematch while trying to fend off Grade 1-winning 3-year-old Hog Creek Hustle and Grade 3-winning 3-year-old Lexitonian.

Promises Fulfilled won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before starting in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, while Whitmore placed in three graded stakes in the spring of 2016 before taking a tilt at the Derby. Hog Creek Hustle also attempted to work his way onto the classics trail before cutting back in distance.

Hog Creek Hustle finished second to eventual Preakness winner War of Will in the Grade 3 Lecomte and fourth in the Grade 2 Risen Star before checking in eighth in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, with all three races at Fair Grounds. He showed signs of life when finishing second to Mr. Money in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard, then earned his Grade 1 in the Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont. Last out, Hog Creek Hustle finished second in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga, beaten a hard-charging nose in a four-way blanket finish.

“He thinks he won,” said trainer Vickie Foley, adding that she had hoped for more pace for her colt to run at. “For a horse like that to make up that kind of ground, that was impressive. There was one nod before the wire when he was in front, and then the nod was Mind Control. It was a bob of the head. . . . I wish it could have been the other way, but he ran good.”

The well-traveled Lexitonian has had an up-and-down campaign while competing on a variety of surfaces. Since May, the colt has won the Grade 3 Chick Lang sprinting on the Pimlico dirt, finished 10th in the Woody Stephens, won the Concern on the Laurel dirt, finished third in the Bruce D. Memorial on synthetic at Arlington, and finished seventh in the Grade 3 Franklin-Simpson on the turf at Kentucky Downs.

“We are going to keep him on the dirt,” trainer Jack Sisterson said.

After last year’s Phoenix, Whitmore and Promises Fulfilled finished second and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs. Whitmore, who has earned more than $2.5 million while winning five graded stakes and placing in 10 others, has just one win in four starts this year, taking the listed Hot Springs in March at Oaklawn. In his most recent race, he finished eighth in the Grade 2 True North in June at Belmont. He has been freshened for a fall campaign.

Promises Fulfilled, also a five-time graded stakes winner, sports just one win in five outings this year. He won the Grade 2 John A. Nerud in July at Belmont to lock down a Breeders’ Cup berth. In his most recent start, he finished sixth in the Grade 1 Forego.

Others in the Phoenix field include four-time stakes winner Recruiting Ready, and fellow graded stakes winner Diamond Oops, who most recently finished second to Imperial Hint in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga.