By My Standards to take on 'very strong field' in Whitney

By My Standards will look to avenge his loss in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster in June by taking on a "very strong field" in the $750,000 Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 1.

"It’s going to be a really deep field," trainer Bret Calhoun said Wednesday. "Tom's d’Etat, Code of Honor, McKinzie, I know those three for sure. I’m sure there’ll be several more good ones."

Tom's d'Etat got the best of By My Standards last out in the Stephen Foster, beating him by 4 1/4 lengths and breaking the Goldencents colt's three-race win streak.

Still, "I thought he ran well," Calhoun said. "I thought that he ran a very good race, and I thought Tom’s d’Etat ran a great race. I think tactically, we were surprised early that Tom’s d’Etat was in front of us early, and they went modest fractions. I don’t think there’s any way in the world anyone’s going to run Tom’s d’Etat down off a half-mile in :48."

The 4-year-old colt, owned by Allied Racing Stable LLC, came out of the race well, he said.

"By My Standards galloped out very well that day, finished up, galloped out very well and seemed to come back very good," Calhoun said. "So all we can do is move on to the next spot.

"We ran our race and caught a horse that ran a superior race," Calhoun said. "So you’ve just got to hope that we continue to progress and move forward. I was hoping that would happen that day, and like I said, I think he ran a very good race. He just ran into one that ran a better race."

Before the Stephen Foster, By My Standards scored in all three of his races this year: an allowance at Fair Grounds in February, the New Orleans Classic (G2) in March and the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) in May. Those were his first starts since he finished 11th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

Calhoun said By My Standards is "just a dream to train."

"He’s just very easy to train, a great-minded horse, puts a lot into his training every day," he said. "But it’s controllable, he does it the right way. He trains in the morning the right way, breezes the right way. He just seems to do everything like you’d want him to do it. He’s not hard on himself, does what you ask him to do."