Trainer Rick Dutrow knows what it takes to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
The last time the World Championships were held in New York, he capped off the day by capturing the 2005 Classic with Saint Liam.
“Saint Liam oozed talent,” Dutrow said.
So, when Dutrow looks at White Abarrio , his hopeful for the Nov. 4 $6 million Classic at Santa Anita Park, and sees some of the qualities he saw in Saint Liam, it’s noteworthy.
“What Saint Liam had, this horse is just starting to show it,” Dutrow said about the 4-year-old. “And he’ll keep getting better.”
C Two Racing Stable and Antonio Pagnano’s White Abarrio looms a major player in the 1 1/4-mile Classic off a dominant performance Aug. 5 in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, a 6 1/4-length score that convinced Dutrow he only needed to train the gray or roan son of Race Day up to the Classic.
“Watching him run like he did in the Whitney, I knew he didn’t need any friggin’ preps,” Dutrow said. “I thought it was a perfect scenario to go right into it. I am so happy with the way he did that. He is in such a zone right now.”
After White Abarrio pocketed a fees-paid, guaranteed spot in the Classic by taking the “Win and You’re In” Whitney, Dutrow shipped White Abarrio west to Santa Anita in mid-September to begin training for the World Championships. So far the son of the Into Mischief mare Catching Diamonds has put in three works over the track. Scheduled to work again Oct. 16, he drilled five furlongs in a quick 1:00.40 on Oct. 9.
“He’s doing great. We’re happy with him and he’s very happy with himself,” said Dutrow, who resumed training in May after serving a 10-year suspension. “He’s getting over the track the right way. I keep trying to find something and I can’t. It’s all good. It really is.”
Dutrow said so far the ownership group has expressed a willingness to race White Abarrio next year.
A winner of 6 of 14 starts, he has earned $1,826,350. He made his first 12 starts for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and won the Florida Derby (G1) for him, but was turned over to Dutrow after Joseph was given an indefinite suspension in early May by Churchill Downs following the sudden deaths of two of his horses. Joseph was reinstated in late June. Meanwhile, in White Abarrio’s only other start for Dutrow, he was third in the June 10 Metropolitan Handicap (G1) behind Cody’s Wish , who he beat in the Whitney.
White Abarrio is the highest rated older horse in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings and fourth overall behind 3-year-olds Arcangelo , Geaux Rocket Ride , and Arabian Knight .
