ARCADIA, Calif. - White Abarrio, winner of Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, will race in 2024, with four of the richest and most prestigious races in the world on the wish list of his connections.
The four races that will be the focus of White Abarrio’s 5-year-old campaign include the $20 million Saudi Cup (Feb. 24), the $12 million Dubai World Cup (March 30), the Grade 1 Whitney (presumably Aug. 3) and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Nov. 2).
There could be other races, too, but White Abarrio has shown he excels when he has plenty of time between races and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. isn’t afraid to give it to him. White Abarrio won the Classic 91 days after he captured the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 5 at Saratoga. The Saudi Cup, a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race, is 112 days from the Breeders’ Cup.
“He doesn’t need a race in between the big race out there and Saudi, he’s good man,” Dutrow said. “Could he [run in between]? Yes, I’m sure that he can. But time is his weapon and we want to keep using it. It’s good for him. So, these other races, they don’t mean a whole lot like the Saudi Cup does.”
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Earlier in the morning Mark Cornett, of C2 Racing which co-owns White Abarrio with La Milagrosa Stable, said he would like to run the horse four to six times in 2024 if possible.
Dutrow said Sunday that White Abarrio would remain in California until travel plans to Saudi Arabia are finalized.
Dutrow also said that White Abarrio has for months been dealing with a cracked-heel issue on a hind foot. He said it has not hindered White Abarrio’s performance, as evidenced by his effort in the Classic, in which he beat Derma Sotogake by one length and earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure.
Dutrow said he had breakfast Sunday morning with Dr. Larry Bramlage to get advice on how to treat that issue.
“It’s like a little bit of a cracked heel behind and it’s been lingering for about two to three months, maybe longer,” Dutrow said. “I just want to get it 100 percent, now that we have time for his next race. We’ve been working on it religiously. We’re holding it in really good shape, but we want to get rid of it.”
White Abarrio’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic puts him in the conversation for Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male. He split decisions with Cody’s Wish - beating him in the Whitney and losing to him in the Grade 1 Metropolitan. Cody’s Wish won three Grade 1s including the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday.
Dutrow likened the situation to 2005, when his Silver Train won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but Lost in the Fog, who had gone 8 for 8 before finishing seventh in the Sprint, won champion sprinter. Dutrow said Lost in the Fog was the deserved champion and said Cody’s Wish would be, too.
“We won two races that were big, same thing here, we won two races,” Dutrow said adding that Cody’s Wish “has been going all year long and winning Grade 1s everywhere. I’m not putting my vote in for him, but if they give it to him, I will be behind it a million percent. As long as [White Abarrio] stays the way he is right now, he can get Horse of the Year next year.”
Dutrow, who just came back to training after serving a 10-year suspension handed him by New York regulators for myriad violations, hopes White Abarrio’s success leads to him getting more higher-quality horses. On Sunday, he won the $150,000 Nashua Stakes for 2-year-olds with Where’s Chris, who was the longest shot on the board at 19-1.
Dutrow said he is hopeful of having a string of horses in California for the winter meet.
“Right now, I’m talking to my owners and they’re kind of saying let’s send our grass horses out here,” Dutrow said. “I want to get some horses out here because I got good help out here right now and I don’t want to waste that.”
*** Dutrow said he planned to go to Disneyland on Sunday.
“I love it there,” Dutrow said. “It’ll save me money because if I don’t do that I’m going to bet football and watch football. I’ll save myself money if I go to Disney.”
*** The majority of horses who raced in the Classic are expected to return in 2024. The only two definitely being retired are third-place finisher Proxy and ninth-place finisher Zandon.
Derma Sotogake, who finished second in the Classic Saturday, could wind up in Dubai for the winter and target the World Cup, considering he won the UAE Derby there earlier this year.
Saudi Crown (10th) and Clapton (11th) are expected to target races in the Middle East this winter, too.
Arabian Knight, Bright Future, Senor Buscador, Dreamlike and Missed the Cut are all likely to race in 2024.
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