Unique season's timing may send Whitmore to the allowance ranks

A postponement of the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1), normally run in the spring at Churchill Downs, along with Keeneland's omission of the Commonwealth Stakes (G3) from its abbreviated Summer Meet came as a "kick in the pants" for trainer Ron Moquett.

Those are two types of dirt sprints that could normally attract a horse like Whitmore, the 7-year-old Moquett trainee exiting a victory in a deep renewal of Oaklawn Park's Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3).

Because Churchill Downs' $100,000 Aristides comes up "a little quick for us" -- it's scheduled for June 6 -- Moquett said Thursday he's likely to seek out an allowance spot next for Whitmore.

A return to New York for Belmont Park's True North (G2) on June 27 was also possible, but Moquett cited a six-figure drop in purse money to $150,000 as reason not to travel.

"It would be different if it was financially justifiable to put him on a van and go all the way to New York and run against obviously what’s going to be a condensed field," Moquett said.

But the trainer isn't complaining. Longer-term, he's pointing Whitmore toward the Phoenix Stakes (G2) at Keeneland typically run in early October and then the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 over the same track.

"I’m going to try to understand that even a good allowance race home is better than going out there, trying to every race prove that we’re the best that ever was or something," Moquett said. "All I want to is keep him happy."

Toward that end, Whitmore has had time to rest and relax since his last start on April 18.

"We tried to be smart and take advantage of the fact that there were no races anywhere immediately after the Count Fleet," Moquett said. "We gave him three weeks of sunshine and grass at Rebecca Maker’s," an equine rehab facility in Versailles, Ky.

"And now he’s been back with us, and we gave him an easy half" -- a 50-second breeze Sunday at Churchill -- "and we’re starting to gear him up toward the next race, and we’ll have to figure out where that is."

"It doesn’t take me a whole lot to get him geared up," Moquett added. "He has to go in the first set every day. He’s a high-energy horse. He likes his job. We've kind of got to keep a wide path for him because he may or may not try to go after another horse. He’s kind of a big bully."