Oaklawn Park is home to over 1,300 Purebreds this winter. Perhaps no one has been named or named more appropriately than a 2-year-old boy set to make his career debut in 2022 for coach Ron Moquett.
The pony belongs to the late Eclipse Award winner Interrogation . The dam is Melody’s Spirit. Expectations — at least on paper — are naturally high. The horse, Arrogates Spirit, is the half brother of the fiery horse Whitmore , Moquett’s now-retired Eclipse Award winner.
“He’s got a similar body, but he’s gray,” said Moquett. “But on the contrary in personality. He’s easygoing. Lets you rub his ears. Likes snuggling, all that. But he’s a lot more friendly. If you do that with Whitmore, he will kill you.”
No one knows the hallmarks of Whitmore like Moquett and his wife/assistant Laura, who was a regular gymnast of chestnut gelding. They guided Whitmore through a 43-race campaign that resulted in 15 wins, including the $1.8 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) in 2020 at Keeneland to win the Eclipse Award as the country’s champion male sprinter.
Whitmore emerges from a $600,000 Forego Share (G1) on August 28 at Racecourse Saratoga with a career-ending leg injury and hopefully 8-year-old gelding can move on to a stable foal. Enter Arrogates Spirit, the third horse Ron Moquett has trained from Melody’s Spirit and the first horse he has tutored for Southern California-based Snowmobile Racing.
“I think he’s a good sized pony and that ownership group is very well known for doing what’s good for the horse,” said Moquett. “I think they just let him grow.”
Arrogates Spirit is from the first season of Arrogate, who became a 3-year-old men’s title champion in 2016 following a record 13 1/2 win in a match over $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and defeating older horses, notably California Chrome , in the $5.5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita . Park.
Arrogate, the gray son of Unbridled’s Song, only made his debut until April of his 3-year-old season. In a perfect world, Moquett said, Arrogates Spirit would make his career debut on March 19, when Oaklawn runs the first $200,000 Whitmore Stakes program for older sprinters. .
Ron Moquett at Oaklawn Park
After gelding retired, Oaklawn renamed Hot Springs Stakes after the local seven-time winner and proclaimed March 19 “Whitmore Day”. Whitmore won Hot Springs’ record four years in a row (2017-20).
“It was his brother’s big day,” Moquett said. “He’s going to write a book, but we’ll just get there. If he’d dragged us there sooner, we would have gotten there.”
It was Slam Dunk founder Nick Cosato who directed his crossbreed to Moquett after initially going through the stages with the trainer following Whitmore’s dazzling debut win 7 1/4 lengths in the race First special weight class sprint for 2-year-olds in November 2015 at Churchill Downs.
“He was one of the first people to call, trying to buy Whitmore,” Moquett said. “Then he was the smart one, before Whitmore started the second time, he went to buy Whitmore’s mother.”
Moquett was the sole owner of Whitmore when he debuted (the coach ran under the banner of Southern Springs Stables), but he passed on Cosato’s offer and instead brought in Robert LaPenta and Arkansan Harry Rosenblum. partner before his second career started with $1 million. Delta Jackpot (G3) bet 15 days later at Delta Downs.
Moquett had a successful horse for LaPenta and Rosenblum in multiple Oaklawn bet winners Far right , One Fictional quiz who finished a second far to American pharoah in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2015 before becoming the first ever coach Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (G1) started three weeks later at Churchill Downs, where he finished 15th. Whitmore ran 19th in the 2016 Kentucky race (Arrogate was still a teenager), then began his long climb up. number one in the country’s sprint rankings later that year.
“He was trying to buy the whole thing,” Moquett said, referring to Cosato. “He tried to buy whatever he could afford. He wanted him bad. He offered good money. But I was in a relationship at the time with Bob LaPenta and Harry.”
Rosenblum sold his interest in Whitmore to Sol Kumin (Head of Plains Partners) in the spring of 2017, shortly before his first of three record wins at Oaklawn’s Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) ).
Whitmore was Melody’s Spirit’s first pony, an untrained daughter of Go, dad . Her second pony to enter the races, Kid Sis, has gone undefeated in two career starts for Moquett, who is co-owner Atreides intimate relationships with longtime clients William S. Sparks and Eric Johnson (Harlow Stables). Moquett said she couldn’t get over her stomach ache after placing 10th on her 3-year-old debut in February 2019 in Oaklawn.
Map of Liam , trained this winter at Oaklawn.
Cosato also bred Kid Sis and Skip Intro, a Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate worth $190,000 in 2019. Arrogates Spirit was entered into the Keeneland September Yearling Sale 2020, but Cosato acquired the horse. child (for $170,000) after he failed to meet his reserves.
Arrogates Spirit worked with Moquett for about six and a half weeks, recording two half-mile pieces in December in Oaklawn before launching his career.
Laura Moquett said: “I’ve only met him a few times. “He looks better than Whitmore.
Arrogate began his student career at Juddmonte Farms and died in June 2020 of a neurological disorder. He retired with $17,422,600 in career earnings, an all-time North American record (at least once in the US or Canada), according to Equibase, the tournament’s official data collection organization. racing.
Whitmore has made $4,502,350 in his career, including a record $4,098,600 for North American sprinters (races up to a mile) in 37 starts . He performed well in the Road to the Kentucky Derby openings in 2016 in Oaklawn, finishing second in Southwest bets $500,000 (G3) and $900,000 Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/ 16 miles and third in the Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 mile before making his mark in the sprint. Whitmore is also a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, 2003 Pleasly Perfect champion. Ron Moquett said Arrogates Spirit is “longer” than Whitmore, suggesting that he can be more effective in two spins than his half-brother. his famous other mother.
“We got to know him more and more,” Moquett said. “He’s very smart and covers a lot of ground whenever he moves. He’s learning. I’ll say this: he’s very willing.”
