HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – White Abarrio, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, will make his much anticipated return following a near six-month layoff Friday at Gulfstream Park in a $62,000 allowance and optional-claiming event going seven furlongs, which drew a field of just five, including his stakes-winning stablemate Mish.
The race is the second of four allowance races on an excellent program that also features an identically conditioned allowance to be decided at one mile. That field of eight is led by Grade 2 winner Steal Sunshine.
The four allowance races are part of a 50-cent late pick five that starts with a carryover of $64,847. The sequence starts with the fifth race.
White Abarrio has started just twice since his popular one-length victory over Derma Sotogake in the BC Classic at Santa Anita and not since a fifth-place finish behind National Treasure in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga on June 8. White Abarrio was then transferred back to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., for whom he won both the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Grade 1 Florida Derby here at 3 in 2022. During the second half of his 4-year-old campaign in 2023, White Abarrio won the Grade 1 Whitney and BC Classic for trainer Rick Dutrow.
A share in White Abarrio was sold by his principal owner, C2 Racing Stable, earlier this year to Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Aziz just prior to his disappointing 10th-place finish in the $20 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 24.
:: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.
“We gave him a break after he was returned to us this summer, sent him to the farm, now he’s ready to start back and you’d like to think his class will tell [on Friday], although coming back off a layoff you’re always a little skeptical,” said Joseph. “I thought his work from the gate here last week was very good. He worked with Of a Revolution, who is a pretty solid horse, and I worked him from the gate because I wanted to make sure he paid attention.”
Joseph said the plan all along was to bring White Abarrio back in an allowance race as a stepping-stone to the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday on Dec. 21, with the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational five weeks later his first major goal. White Abarrio finished eighth in Gulfstream Park’s marquee race in 2023.
Irad Ortiz Jr., who guided White Abarrio to victory in both the Breeders’ Cup and Whitney, has moved his tack back to South Florida in advance of the opening of the Championship meet next week and will be aboard once again.
Mish shares common ownership with White Abarrio and appears his stablemate’s only serious challenger. Mish, a restricted stakes winner last winter at Tampa Bay Downs, is coming off a third-place finish in a six-furlong allowance race when returning from a four-month vacation on Sept. 28.
“Mish needed a race last time. He got tired off the layoff, and I expect him to run big, back to his best race, off that effort,” said Joseph.
Like White Abarrio, Steal Sunshine could be using Friday’s race as a prep for another shot at the Harlan’s Holiday, a race in which he finished fourth to close out his 2023 campaign. Steal Sunshine’s lone win in five tries this year came in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile on March 2. He finished third last winter in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper and Ghostzapper, but has been idle since running an even fifth in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 29 at Churchill Downs.
:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.
“I’m glad he didn’t get pushed into the seven-furlong race against White Abarrio,” said trainer Bobby Dibona. “I gave him a little break after he got back from Kentucky, he’s been ready to run for a while now, and he’s doing great. Paco [Lopez] worked him the last time and said he’s ready to go. He was light on his feet and couldn’t be doing better.
“He needs a confidence booster and if he were to win Friday, I imagine the plan would be to try the Harlan’s Holiday again.”
Joseph will send out two of Steal Sunshine’s seven rivals, the speedy Prairie Hawk and South American Group 1 winner Super Corinto, who joined his barn earlier this year after having made only two starts since finishing far back in the 2023 Dubai World Cup. The remainder of the field includes Big Martini, who finished a close second last month in the restricted Gil Campbell Memorial Handicap, Golden Glider, Drum Roll Please, Lure Him In, and Smooth Flyin Mike.
Rate by Merit has nice work
Juvenile sensation Rated by Merit breezed an easy five furlongs in 59.50 seconds shortly after the renovation break here Wednesday in preparation for his role as the overwhelming favorite in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes on Nov. 30.
Rated by Merit completed his opening three-eighths in 35.25 before easing up purposefully after the wire, going out three-quarters in 1:14.10 while finishing into a moderate headwind and making a dull track look fast considering the manner in which he cruised along throughout under regular rider Jesus Rios.
:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures
Rated by Merit, a son of Battalion Runner, has won his first three career starts by a combined 19 3/4 lengths, including the opening two legs of the Florida Sire Series, the six-furlong Dr. Fager and seven-furlong Affirmed, by 6 1/4 and 3 3/4 lengths, respectively. The 99 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in the Affirmed is the highest posted by a 2-year-old in North America this season.
Trained by Michael Yates for the St. Elias Stable, the homebred Rated by Merit will be seeking to become the 11th horse to sweep all three legs of the open division of the Sire Series in the In Reality, which shares top billing on the Nov. 30 card with its filly counterpart, the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.