SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has won 739 races at Saratoga. Two of his most memorable victories have come in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes where, five years apart, Left Bank in 2002 and Lawyer Ron in 2007, each won in track-record time.
Saturday, Pletcher will seek a fifth Whitney victory – which would tie him all time with John Gaver Sr. – when he starts Fierceness against a deep, accomplished field in a highly anticipated renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney, which offers its winner a fees-paid berth into the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Del Mar.
This Whitney field is Breeders’ Cup Classic-esque. It includes Sierra Leone and White Abarrio, the last two winners of the Classic. In total, the 10 horses entered have amassed 65 wins, 29 of which are stakes (10 Grade 1s) and earnings of $27.9 million.
The 1 1/8-mile race is expected to lose a major player as Mindframe was only entered in case Fierceness was unable to run. The horses have mostly common ownership and are trained by Pletcher. As of Thursday morning, all was well with Fierceness, so Mindframe will likely scratch and await the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31.
Fierceness, the champion 2-year-old of 2023, won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 Travers here last year and began his 3-year-old career with a track-record performance in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs. Fierceness didn’t have the smoothest of trips when finishing second to Raging Torrent in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap here on June 7. When Raging Torrent came over from his outside draw, it kind of caused a chain reaction that cost Fierceness the position Pletcher wanted.
“We had to steady off heels and in order to regain position we had to shove our way up in between him and White Abarrio, and the first eighth of a mile was pretty messy,” Pletcher said. “After that, he didn’t have an excuse from that point, but similar to what we saw in the [2024] Holy Bull, when he gets off to a rough start sometimes he doesn’t get into the same rhythm he does when he gets away cleanly.”
Fierceness has run well from an outside draw and Saturday he is in post 9, with just one horse to his outside. John Velazquez rides.
In winning the Jim Dandy and Travers here last year, Fierceness defeated Sierra Leone, who flipped the script on Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. A fast pace helped Sierra Leone win the Classic, while Fierceness fought on to finish second. The two meet for the first time since then – and fifth overall – in this spot.
Sierra Leone is 0 for 2 this year, having finished third in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds in March and second to Mindframe in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill five weeks ago.
Trainer Chad Brown second-guessed himself about running in the New Orleans Classic, noting that horses were permitted to use Lasix in stakes there – that is not the case in most other jurisdictions – and the race was won on the front end by Touchuponastar with Hall of Fame finishing second.
“Factoring that it in, it probably wasn’t a good decision to run there,” Brown said. “He ran fine despite that the track played speedy and a couple of gimmicky horses that need Lasix finished ahead of him. When we got him over to Churchill he ran his race, it was a much more fair race. He ran great, the winner [Mindframe] just ran a little bit better that day, but I was really pleased with his race.”
In three starts at Saratoga last year, Sierra Leone finished third in the Belmont Stakes and Travers and was second in the Jim Dandy.
“He didn’t have his best results here, his numbers were fast,” Brown said. “He’s definitely more professional. We’ll see how the track’s playing Saturday. There’s certainly more speed on paper in the race, and that’s good.”
Part of the speed signed on includes Contrary Thinking, who is trained by Brown but who is now owned by Peter Brant, part-owner of Sierra Leone. Brown, who previously trained the horse for Seth Klarman, said he thinks Contrary Thinking has enough talent to grab a share of the purse in addition to ensuring a strong pace.
Mama’s Gold, a fast New York-bred, also is expected to supply pace.
For his part, Pletcher doesn’t mind if there’s a fast pace for Fierceness.
“I think he’s happy with a target or two, main thing is just have a comfortable rhythm for him wherever that is,” Pletcher said. “If they go really fast, he’s perfectly capable of sitting farther off of it. If they’re not going real fast, then I think he’ll be right there.”
White Abarrio, the 2023 Whitney winner, figures to be right there early under Irad Ortiz Jr. Like Fierceness, White Abarrio is seeking to bounce back from a disappointing effort in the Met Mile, where he finished fourth.
Saffie Joseph Jr., the trainer of White Abarrio, felt the moisture in the track for the Met Mile might have been the biggest contributing factor to White Abarrio’s performance.
“He did run bad in the Met Mile last year so you can try to blame configuration and distance, but I don’t think that’s the reason,” Joseph said. “If anything, it could be surface as far as having moisture in it. If he runs his top race, his top race is good enough. He’s back to the distance he likes the most. He’s won on the track going the distance.”
Joseph also plans to run Skippylongstocking. He is coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 25, and Joseph wants a race between then and the Charles Town Classic on Aug. 22. Skippylongstocking has won the Charles Town Classic the last two years.
While Skippylongstocking is a nine-time graded stakes winner, he is 0 for 9 in Grade 1 stakes.
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Highland Falls, trained by Brad Cox for Godolphin, won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup here last year before finishing ninth in the BC Classic. In his lone star this year, Highland Falls won a one-mile allowance race at Aqueduct by 5 1/2 lengths.
Post Time, a Maryland-bred son of Frosted trained by Brittany Russell, is 11 for 18 and finished third in this race last year.
Disarm, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished second in the 2023 Travers and fourth in the Whitney last year.
The Whitney goes as race 11 on an outstanding 13-race card that begins at 12:05 p.m. and includes four Grade 1 stakes as well as the Grade 2 Saratoga Special.
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