Wow, What a Whitney

With seven Grade I winners and combined purse earnings of nearly $13 million among its 10 entrants, Saturday’s $1.25-million GI Whitney S. at Saratoga boasts one of the strongest fields assembled in recent memory and offers an automatic berth into the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. Lane’s End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm’s Honor Code (A.P. Indy), one of a trio of ‘TDN Rising Stars’ signed on for this nine-panel test, may have the biggest question to answer of anyone in the field despite the 3-1 nod on Eric Donovan’s morning line. The flashy Shug McGaughey pupil has done his best running going one turn, and was as impressive as a horse could be when inhaling his foes–including runner-up Tonalist (Tapit) and MGISW Private Zone (Macho Uno)–in the one-mile GI Metropolitan H. June 6 at Belmont. That run came after a lackluster fifth in the two-turn, 8 1/2-panel GII Alysheba S. at Churchill May 1.

‘Rising Star’ Tonalist, winner of last year’s GI Belmont S. and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, showed a new dimension this year when able to win over a flat mile–and with a career-best 111 Beyer Speed Figure–in Belmont’s GIII Westchester S. May 2. He was last seen finishing second by a head with a very tough trip in the 1 1/4-mile GII Suburban H. downstate July 4. “I really think from a mile on he can run with the best,” trainer Christophe Clement said of the Shel Evans colobearer. “People thought after he won the Belmont he’s a mile-and-a-half horse. Well, he finished second in the Met Mile, so he’s not a mile-and-a-half horse. He showed pretty good speed, too. He’s a very good horse, that’s what he is.”

Lightly raced Noble Bird (Birdstone) and near $2-million earner Lea (First Samurai) were separated by a neck in the GI Stephen Foster H. June 13. The former was coming off a narrow second at 19-1 in his stakes debut in the Alysheba. “My son, Norman, is my main guy and assistant he knows Noble Bird better than anybody. He knows him better than me, actually,” trainer Mark Casse said. “We both looked at each other [after his last work in :48 4/5 July 31] and said, ‘I think he likes Saratoga better than anywhere else.’ I find a lot of our horses struggle with Saratoga, the track, but he looks to me like he’s thriving over it.”

Lea annexed the 2014 GI Donn H. in record time at Gulfstream over champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled’s Song) before missing the rest of that season. He returned successfully in the GIII Hal’s Hope S. down in Florida in January, and was second to Constitution (Tapit) and in defense of his Donn title Feb. 7. He was a solid third in the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 28, and gave a very good account of himself first time back in the U.S. in the Foster.

‘Rising Star’ Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) is the race’s X factor as he makes just his sixth start at age four. He’s taken his last four efforts in impressive fashion, and earned a gaudy 112 Beyer Speed Figure when out-dueling last Sunday’s GII Monmouth Cup runner-up Valid (Medaglia d’Oro) in Gulfstream’s Harlan’s Holiday S. in December. The grey, an $800,000 KEESEP yearling out of GSW Miss Macy Sue (Trippi), made a successful seasonal debut in a one-mile Belmont optional claimer June 19. He should be on the lead, and is very reminiscent of trainer Todd Pletcher’s 2013 Whitney winner Cross Traffic (Unbridled’s Song).

The James Jerkens-trained V. E. Day (English Channel) and Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) were separated by a nose when one-two in last year’s GI Travers S., but both have been shut out since. The former was beaten a neck last out in the Brooklyn, while last year’s GI Wood Memorial S. and GII Jim Dandy S. winner Wicked Strong finished second when testing turf in Belmont’s Forbidden Apple S. July 11. “They’re both doing good. I like how they’re doing,” said Jerkens, whose late father, Hall of Famer H. Allen Jerkens, famously upset Secretariat with Onion in the 1973 Whitney. “They did well here last year, that’s for sure. It’s more coincidence than anything, but there’s been a lot of horses in the past that seemed to do a little better up here. Those two seem to do good up here.”

Moreno (Ghostzapper) looks to defend his Whitney title, but he has his work cut out for him. Second in the GI Woodward S. later in the 2014 Saratoga meet, the Eric Guillot pupil was book-ended by Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Catch a Flight (Arg) (Giant’s Causeway) in the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 7 and annexed the GII Charles Town Classic two starts later Apr. 18. Second behind Catch a Flight in the GII Californian S. May 30, he was a disappointing eighth in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita behind Californian third Hard Aces (Hard Spun) June 27.