White Abarrio
Damon Thayer has retired from his job as the Senate Majority Floor Leader in the state of Kentucky, where he was one of horse racing's staunchest and most important allies. Thayer may no longer be walking the halls of the Capitol in Frankfort, but he is still working hard to help the sport he loves. He is now a senior advisor with Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI), a group devoted to stopping decoupling efforts at Gulfstream Park and to see to it that racing in South Florida remains a vital part...
It was one of the better Breeders' Cups that we have seen in a long time and it featured great performances and safe racing, exactly the daily double the Breeders' Cup hopes to hit every year. But the good news has been overshadowed this week by a controversy. Why was White Abarrio (Race Day) scratched just minutes before the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile? The owners, C2 Racing Stable, LLC and Gary Barber, want to know, claiming the horse was "perfectly sound." "There's nothing wrong with him," co-owner Mark Cornett...
When 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) was scratched in the moments before the field loaded into the starting gate for Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, it was on the recommendation of the on-track veterinarian in a call to the stewards. Some of the horse's connections--comprised of C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable--have been vocal on social media and in the media in the days since about their disagreement with the call. Tuesday afternoon, C2 Racing Stable posted the...
Yes, it's purely hypothetical, but imagine a GI Breeders' Cup Classic without the rabbit, Contrary Thinking (Into Mischief). That's a race Fierceness (City of Light) probably would have won. Yes, he got free in the stretch and had every chance to run down Forever Young (Jpn) (Reel Steel {Jpn}) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) but he couldn't get the job done, finishing third, losing by 1 1/2 lengths. But too much had gone wrong for him at that point, and he could not recover. Unlike what happened in the GI...
It looked like a close contest on paper, and in the end, the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile turned into one of those events where it deserved no loser, but there had to be one. The juvenile champion of 2024, Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) set 'supersonic' splits early (as Larry Collmus called them at one point), and ran the race of his life, but it was stablemate Nysos (Nyquist) who ultimately played the spoiler as he nailed the photo to win the Dirt Mile in one of the closest finishes...
The 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed a half-mile in company Thursday at Gulfstream Park in preparation for a planned start in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Breezing outside of stablemate Practically Dark (Practical Joke), they covered four furlongs on a fast track :45.86, the fastest clocking of seven recorded at the distance. "Today was 24 days out, almost three weeks, so we wanted a strong work," said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. "He put in a strong work. He...
C2 Racing Stable LLC, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) went a half-mile Thursday morning at Gulfstream Park as he continues his preparations for the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Saturday, Nov. 1. Winner of the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita, the 6-year-old took to the main track following the renovation break and drilled a half-mile in :46.56 (1/7) before galloping out five furlongs in :59.29. A latest fifth, but placed fourth, in a rough-and-tumble renewal of the...
2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) will target the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. confirmed Thursday. The now 6-year-old, who started the year with a win in the GI Pegasus World Cup, has returned to Gulfstream Park from Saratoga, where he is scheduled to breeze next week for the first time since finishing fourth in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Aug. 31. "Obviously, things didn't go the way we wanted in the Jockey Club. We're going to regroup in the Mile,"...
Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who was thrown from Mindframe (Constitution) shortly after the start of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Sunday at Saratoga, escaped serious injury in the incident, according to his agent, Steve Rushing. Ortiz was sent to Albany Medical Center for evaluation, and while tests were not completed, the signs were postiive at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. "It looks like he escaped serious injury," Rushing texted Sunday evening. "We are still waiting on one more test." "He is cleared to ride," said Rushing. "We will see how...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--After the last two starts, there may be those who gave up on White Abarrio (Race Day). Saffie Joseph Jr., the trainer of the 6-year-old gray horse, isn't one of them. White Abarrio reappears at Saratoga on Sunday in the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile test that has attracted some of the best older horses in the country. GI Whitney Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone is here, so is fellow 'Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), winner of all three of his...
Just how deep is Sunday's running of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in a little more than two months' time? Well, six of the eight remaining horses--GII Charles Town Classic winner Banishing (Ghostzapper) will be scratched--have recorded at least one Beyer Speed Figure of 104 or higher this year and three of the entrants are already Grade I winners this term. It is the very definition of a hot race. The field is led by...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Earlier this week, owner Mike Repole took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask for help. He wanted to know what he should do with the two of the best older horses in the country, both, coincidentally, that he owns. Mindframe (Constitution) and Fierceness (City of Light). What to do with them next weekend? The options are simple enough. The $1 million GI Pacific Classic is being run at Del Mar in California next Saturday. The $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup is being...