BC Classic: Dutrow says White Abarrio is 'on his game'

When Rick Dutrow returned to racing in the spring after a 10-year suspension, he couldn’t have known that a few months later, he would have a leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I don't know that you can think that,” Dutrow told Horse Racing Nation on Tuesday. “You would be hoping for it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right now. I'm hoping that somebody calls me while I'm talking to you and they want to send me another good one.”

Dutrow wasn't daunted by his time away from the track.

"I've always been confident in ourselves, I've always been extremely confident when I walk on the track. I feel that there's only one way of stopping me, and they found that way. So I feel very confident around the track, and I just keep plowing forward to try to get where you want to go."

The "good one" he has right now is White Abarrio, whom he began training in May after the 4-year-old Race Day colt was transferred from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

He came in third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 and then easily won the Whitney (G1) on Aug. 5, securing a spot in the Classic.

White Abarrio already is at Santa Anita, training for the Nov. 4 Classic.

“He's in a zone that not too many horses can reach,” Dutrow said. “He is just absolutely as happy as he can possibly be. He's as spoiled as he can possibly be. And he is on his game as much as he could possibly be. I absolutely love what's happening with that horse.”

White Abarrio started his career with four wins in his first five starts. After winning last year's Florida Derby (G1), he went 0-for-7 until winning an optional-claiming allowance race at Gulfstream in March. He had been pointed to the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard, but Joseph was suspended from the track after unexplained deaths of two horses in his care.

White Abarrio’s success this year can be attributed partly to maturation, Dutrow said. “I think he came to me on the upswing. And we just made very tiny little corrections, things to help any horse out along the way, and it just happened to really work out his way.”

Dutrow also took over training of Master Piece in May.

“Yesterday, Irad (Ortiz Jr.) breezed him and said, ‘Rick, this is the best he's went.’ I just like what's happening with him. He's going to run on the grass at Aqueduct on the 15th (in the Knickerbocker, G3). And we're happy to have Irad on him, we just love him. We're doing very good with him. He's just a nice horse to be around. I just would love to have barnfuls of his kind. Just a fun horse to be around.”

Also in Dutrow’s barn is 2-year-old Where’s Chris, a Twirling Candy colt who won his debut at Aqueduct on Sept. 14.

“He's doing good. We just breezed him. He might run Sunday in this grass sprint stake (the Futurity, G3, at Aqueduct). Just have to see if he's going fit there, in our opinion. Just kind of keep looking for the best spot for him that has the most money with the least competition, is what we're looking for overall.”

Dutrow also is pleased with Duke of Hazzard, a 7-year-old winner of two straight optional-claiming allowance races at Saratoga and Aqueduct.

Dutrow said he’s one “of the older ones that just love being around and they're so fun to be around. He's such an easy, easy horse to train. He doesn't hardly say a word in the barn. Trains very, very good. He's very, very happy with himself. We're happy with him.”

Dutrow said he’s grown his stable to about 40 to 45 horses. “I need another 40 to 45,” he said. “Looking every day.”

He hasn’t been able to find stalls in Kentucky, where tracks are fully booked, but he expects to send more out west, including Duke of Hazzard.

“I believe that we'll be sending some more out there when grass is done here (in New York),” Dutrow said. “I believe most of my owners want to go out there with their grass horses. I might be able to hustle another horse or two here to go out there. And I’ve got excellent help there, ready, so I don't want to waste the opportunity. If California gives me the opportunity, I'll try to get some horses there and try to win and be part of it.

“I love California. I've had two stables there in the past and just love it. So that'd be my next move, it seems. And we'll just keep going, do what we can here in New York in the wintertime and just see how things are going.”