If the shoe fits, Dutrow hopes White Abarrio wears BC triumph

Elmont, N.Y.

If White Abarrio wins the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita, it’s gotta be the shoes.

Trainer Rick Dutrow credited famed blacksmith Ian McKinlay with getting his commanding Grade 1 Whitney winner back on course for the Classic. The 1 1/4-mile race means everything to Dutrow’s comeback after a 10-year suspension for repeated medication violations.

“Without him the horse would be in trouble as far as racing at the top level, because his feet are his issue,” Dutrow said of McKinlay’s impact. “Right now they are not.”

These 2 long shots can hit board in Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Foot problems twice led veterinarians to keep White Abarrio from scheduled workouts as he prepared for the sternest test of his life. With time running short until the Breeders’ Cup, McKinlay flew to California last Monday to equip the 4-year-old Race Day colt with a new pair of glue-on shoes. Dutrow believes the previous shoes may have caused some discomfort because they did not fit quite right.

With the new glue-ons, White Abarrio turned in a work Friday that Dutrow found so riveting that he keeps watching replays of it. The multiple Grade 1 winner drilled five furlongs in 59.8 seconds, third fastest of 39 workers at the distance. Private clocker Gary Young told the Santa Anita notes team that he timed the last quarter-mile at 22.8 seconds.

“Oh, he’s good, man. He’s in the zone,” Dutrow said of White Abarrio after returning to his Belmont Park base from the West Coast. “We’re thinking he’s going to run a huge race. He’s giving us every indication of that, so we’re just as happy as we can be.”

White Abarrio, owned by C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable, will make his third start since he was moved from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. to Dutrow’s barn. He was with him for a short time before he ran third in the Met Mile (G1), leading to modest expectations ahead of the Aug. 5 Whitney at Saratoga.

“We weren’t hoping to win. We were hoping to run a credible race,” Dutrow said. “He surpassed all of that. I still don’t know where that race came from. I hope he does it again.”

The 2022 Florida Derby (G1) winner, largely dismissed at 10-1, sat second through much of the 1 1/8-mile Whitney before taking command. He dominated by 6 1/4 lengths against Classic rival Zandon despite being eased by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. for the final sixteenth of a mile.

“I watched him run that day, and he just blew me away,” Dutrow said. “I want to give him every chance to do it again, and the only thing that came to me was California and time. We had to get him out there and give him some time out there.”

Dutrow called fellow trainer Doug O’Neill the day after the Whitney to see whether White Abarrio could be accommodated in O’Neill’s Santa Anita barn. In addition to stall space, an exercise rider was needed. O’Neill pointed the connections in the direction of Emily Ellingwood, and she proved to be a great fit.

White Abarrio has had five five-furlong breezes at Santa Anita. He first appeared on the work tab there Sept. 20.

“Any time he’s been breezing there, he just went great,” Dutrow said.

Dutrow is eager to add quantity and quality to his current 44-horse stable. Part of his comeback involves obtaining stall space in Kentucky and establishing a division there to capitalize on that state’s hefty purses. A Breeders’ Cup Classic triumph almost surely would attract new owners and be a boon to his business.

“It’s a matter of him running his race in California on that track,” Dutrow said. “A lot of horses don’t do it when they come from the East to go out there. But some horses do, and we’re hoping he’s one of them.”

Dutrow understands how significant home-course advantage can be. His one Classic winner, Saint Liam, prevailed at Belmont Park in 2005 and went on to horse-of-the-year honors.

Meanwhile, White Abarrio’s feet are a constant concern and will be for the remainder of his racing career.

“They can flare up in the future,” Dutrow said. “They have in the past.”

For him, the Breeders’ Cup Classic cannot come soon enough.