Whitmore primed to make history in Count Fleet
Some of Whitmore’s biggest fans may feel deprived today watching their hero on television instead of in person at Oaklawn Park.
Even if before an empty grandstand, a third Whitmore victory in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap would be historic. While the world searches for answers to the COVID-19 pandemic, trainer and co-owner Ron Moquett has Whitmore in form to become the first three-time winner of the Grade 3 race for older horses going six furlongs.
At age 7, the gelding caps an Oaklawn meeting that he won the Hot Springs Stakes a fourth consecutive year. The March 7 victory avenged in part Whitmore’s consecutive losses to Steve Asmussen-trained Oaklawn stakes winners Share the Upside (King Cotton Feb. 8) and Mitole (2019 Count Fleet). The Count Fleet was on Moquett’s mind — “two wins and a second” — that day when Whitmore scored his eighth victory over the track that he has won six stakes and
$1,402,600.
Maybe they should rename it the Whitmore Stakes next year. Just a thought as Pleasantly Perfect’s son hopes to surpass Semaphore Man, Bordonaro and Dave’s Friend, two-time winners of the race named for the 1943 Triple Crown winner.
Whitmore is the early 5-2 choice from post nine with Joe Talamo staying aboard and carrying 121 pounds. It’s a Breeders’ Cup-quality field of older sprinters with Whitmore and 4-yearold Hog Creek Hustle as Grade 1 winners and two Oaklawn stakes winners besides Whitmore, Nitrous and Share the Upside representing Hall of Fame trainer Asmussen.
“It’s one of those deal where these are all nice horses,” Moquett said. “I’ve run against a bunch of them before.
I’ve run against Hog Creek Hustle, I’ve run against Lexitonian, I ran against Wendell Fong, Mr. Jagermeister, Share the Upside. We’ve run against, what, seven out of 10 horses. But it’s just funny that you run against them all at the same time.”
Moquett has a true horse for the course and one whose career bankroll can exceed $3 million with a victory today.
“I like how he’s coming into the race,” Moquett said. “I like the post position. I like everything. We just need a good trip because there are good horses, and there’s a lot of good horses with a bunch of different pace scenarios. You’ve got plenty of speed to lay off the pace and plenty of closers.”
Trainer Al Stall Jr. challenges with Bobby’s Wicked One, 3-1 second choice in the program, a week after winning the $150,000 Oaklawn Mile with millionaire Grade 1 winner Tom’s d’Etat. A front-running winner of his last two starts, most recently in Fair Grounds’ $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Jan. 18 when facing Hog Creek Hustle, the 5-year-old makes his Oaklawn debut under Miguel Mena, carrying 120 pounds from post 4.
“That’s going to be a tiger of a race, I’ll tell you that,” said Stall, who shipped Speightstown’s son from New Orleans late last month.
Stall is targeting the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Nov. 7 at Keeneland, the race that Whitmore finished second to Roy H in 2018 at Churchill Downs and third to Mitole last year at Santa Anita.
“There’s only two sprint (stakes) races at the Fair Grounds, and we have visions of sugar plums in our mind with the Breeders’ Cup, and he’s won a graded stake at Keeneland sprinting, so he had to get a break somewhere along the line,” Stall said. “We picked out the Count Fleet, and that’s always been on his radar.”
Mr. Jagermeister and Wendell Fong come off respective secondand third-place finishes in the Hot Springs, the first start for Jeremiah Englehart-trained Wendell Fong since July at Saratoga.
“This is basically Breeders’ Cup spring,” said Valorie Lund, trainer and co-owner of Mr. Jagermeister, a Minnesota-bred
multiple stakes winner of more than $577,000. “It’s definitely going to be a tough, big field of horses.”
From the rail out, it’s Lexitonian (Adam Beschizza riding, 30-1), Flagstaff (Joel Rosario, 7-2), Hog Creek Hustle (Drayden Van Dyke, 15-1), Bobby’s Wicked One, Wendell Fong (David Cohen, 30-1), Mr. Jagermeister (Terry Thompson, 15-1), Hidden Scroll (Martin Garcia, 4-1), Manny Wah (30-1 with Channing Hill, who received treatment at a local hospital after a spill on Friday’s card), Whitmore, Share the Upside (Florent Geroux, 10-1) and Nitrous (Ricardo Santana Jr., 20-1).
Post time for the Count Fleet, race
8 on the card, is set at 4:14 p.m. The
$350,000 race was postponed one week because of the coronavirus pandemic.