This is the first summer Whitmore has not been a racehorse since 2016.
Now 9, gelding, owned by Robert LaPenta, Ron Moquett, and Head of Plains Partners, is in Louisville, Ky., adjusting to life as a retiree.
“He loves having something to do,” said Moquett, who has coached Whitmore with his wife, Laura. “He’s not a horse that can be fine without grazing. He wants a job.”
As long as Whitmore can, he will spend his days with the Moquetts.
During his racing career, the son of Pleasantly perfect won 15 times from 43 starts and got 13 seconds and five thirds. He has a career earnings of $4,502,350, his last race was Thursday in the Forego Stakes (G1) at Racecourse Saratoga End of August.
He won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) in 2020, his fourth attempt at that race.
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On March 19, Oaklawn Park honors the Eclipse 2020 award-winning male sprinter, who won seven stake races at the Arkansas track.
“When we had Whitmore Day at Oaklawn, he thought, ‘Okay, this is where I get back to training,'” Moquett said on August 4 while watching horses practice on the main track in Saratoga. “From that moment on, he was easygoing, I know he was fun, he was happy. He was 100% sound, and he looked perfect.”
Moquett said his wife’s goal for Whitmore was for the popular horse to be part of the Retirement Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Moulting program.
