Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Whitmore a tonic for Moquett
A good horse has a way of coming along when it’s needed most, and Whitmore, one of the favorites in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 3, has proven to be the best of elixirs for his co-owner and trainer, Ron Moquett.
The 47-year-old Moquett was diagnosed with atypical sarcoidosis in March. The complex autoimmune condition can impede organ function, impair breathing, cause general fatigue – and then disappear into permanent remission. It led to a brief hospital stay for Moquett, as well as a sequestered recovery period to protect and strengthen his respiratory system.
Through it all, Whitmore performed. He has finished first or second in six stakes in his seven starts in 2018, opening his campaign with a victory in the Hot Springs in March at Oaklawn. A month later, Whitmore used his late kick to win the track’s premier race for sprinters, the Grade 3, $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. He would go on to give Moquett the second Grade 1 win of his career in the Forego in August at Saratoga.
“This horse, especially, has given me drive,” Moquett said. “When I got home from the hospital I obviously wasn’t feeling well. I was unsure of what I was dealing with. I knew I didn’t feel normal. He gave me stability as a horse who brings it every time. I just threw myself into the barn, focused more on the barn.”
During the Oaklawn meet, Moquett won more stakes than any other trainer, going 5 for 8. He also put up his best-ever numbers at the meet, winning 28 races for stable earnings of $1.7 million. All this while Moquett’s sequestered recovery forced him to make trips to the barn at off hours and watch training from a secluded area.
Moquett was able to return to his normal routine not long after Oaklawn ended in April, and said he now feels the worst of his health storm has passed. The barn, meanwhile, has continued to achieve its best annual numbers since Moquett started training in 1997. He has won 80 races from 474 starts through Wednesday, and those horses have earned $3.8 million.
Next week, Moquett will attempt to win his first Breeders’ Cup race. He pre-entered Whitmore in the Sprint as well as the $1 million Dirt Mile – a race the horse earned a berth into with his Forego win – but is targeting the Sprint. Moquett said he believes Whitmore, a closer he races in partnership with Bob LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners, will get a better pace setup in the Sprint.
“After the Oaklawn races, we’ve been in there with lone speed, to where we had to come out of our plan to do what we thought we had to do to win the race and not what was necessarily easiest for him,” Moquett said. “This race brings together a lot of really nice horses with a lot of speed. It looks like an opportunity for more pace.”
Whitmore will enter the Sprint off a runner-up finish to Promises Fulfilled in the Grade 2 Phoenix on Oct. 5 at Keeneland. He was beaten a head by the wire-to-wire winner one start after his 1 1/2-length victory in the Forego.
Ricardo Santana Jr., who has ridden Whitmore for much of his career, has the mount in the Sprint. He would love to lock up the championship race for Moquett.
“From when I first came here, he’s helped me a lot to be where I am right now,” said Santana, the 24-year-old Panama native who has developed into one of the top riders in North America. “And he’s put a lot of work into that horse. He’s come a long way from when I first rode him. He’s one of the best sprinters right now in the country.”
Whitmore has transitioned from a route horse who ran 19th in the 2016 Kentucky Derby, to a sprinter of note in 2017, to a Grade 1 winner in 2018.
“He’s a horse that always tries hard,” Santana said. “He got a perfect trip in the Forego and, finally, he won an important race in America. It was very good he won. He just gives you everything he has in the tank, and I am really happy for him.”
Whitmore will have something of a home-court advantage in the Sprint, since he is based at host site, Churchill Downs.
“People love this horse,” Moquett said. “They love his attitude. They love his courage and his fight.”
Precisely the characteristics that have carried Whitmore – and Moquett – to the doorstep of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.