White Abarrio romps in Whitney Stakes; Cody’s Wish (2-5) is 3rd

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Grade 1, $1 million Whitney was not in the original plans for White Abarrio.

At the least minute the ownership team and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. decided to pay a $7,500 supplemental nomination fee and skip the seven-furlong Forego (G1) stakes on Aug. 26.

It turned out to be the right decision and a good investment when 10-1 White Abarrio drew off to win by 6 1/4 lengths in Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile race at Saratoga and bring home the $550,000 winner’s share of the purse.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

The male-sprint division got much stronger, and with the top two finishers from last Saturday’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) expected to return in the Forego, the Whitney became a priority.

“If they (Elite Power and Gunite) would have both run up the track (in the Vanderbilt),” Dutrow said, “then maybe we would have (to the Forego). But those two horses ran their races. Even if we went to the Forego, we would not have been afraid to do that. We would have went in with confidence, because we have a nice horse.”

White Abarrio was transferred to Dutrow from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. just before his third-place finish in the Met Mile (G1) on June 10. Since, Dutrow was able to give the horse five workouts, including two that earned a bullet rating.

“We didn’t have confidence to win this race,” he said. “We had confidence we were going to run big. He had been training so well. I breezed him this morning. In his last breeze at the training track at Belmont, he went really slow. That was not by design for this race. I said, ‘Man, we missed a really good breeze, let me just breeze him this morning to make up the difference.’ ”

White Abarrio had not won a stakes race since the 2022 Florida Derby (G1). Dutrow, who returned to racing this spring after a 10-year suspension, got his first graded-stakes victory since the King’s Bishop (G1) with Willy Beamin in 2012.

As the Whitney started, White Abarrio came out of the gate alertly and went to the front. The 2-5 favorite Cody’s Wish stumbled a bit at the break and was last in the field of six.

“I knew he was going to break good, and I could sit second or third from there,” said Irad Ortiz Jr., rider of White Abarrio. “That’s what I did. The horse was ready, and he took me all the way to the quarter-pole nice and easy, and when I asked him, he was there for me.”

White Abarrio and Giant Game set the pace for the first six-furlongs with the eventual winner on the outside. The fractions of 24.41, 48.27 and 1:11.81 were moderate. At that point Giant Game began to fade, and Ortiz inherited the lead.

Cody’s Wish began to make up ground but appeared to be struggling coming out of the final turn as his regular rider Júnior Alvarado was in a vigorous hand ride.

“I don’t know, the ground broke underneath, and he felt very awkward from behind,” Alvarado said. “That might have taken a little out of me, but I don’t think he ran his race today. It might have been the distance. When I hit the three-eighths pole, I was very worried. I had never got this feeling with him before. and today I knew I was in trouble.

At this point, the 9-2 second choice Zandon was making his usual late move, and for the sixth time in his career he finished second in a graded stakes. Cody’s Wish was 3 3/4 lengths behind him in third.

White Abarrio paid $22.40 for a $2 win bet. With Zandon the $2 exacta returned $79. Cody’s Wish completed a $115 trifecta. Charge It finished fourth, Giant Game was fifth and Last Samurai, who also was a supplemental nomination, was sixth.

The Whitney was a Breeders’ Cup Classic win-and-you’re-in qualifier, which will likely send White Abarrio to Santa Anita on Nov. 4. That is where Dutrow could win for the fourth time at the world championships.

“We’re headed towards the Breeders’ Cup the right way, and that’s a thrill,” Dutrow said. “We don’t want to run him again. We want to go straight to the race. We have to see how the younger horses run in these other races, talk to the owners, see how the horse comes out of it. Wherever we go (the Classic or the Dirt Mile), we’re going to have confidence that he’s going to run big.”