Good as ever, Whitmore belts Count Fleet triple
Whether before a roaring crowd or an empty grandstand, Whitmore tends to leave one speechless whenever he runs, especially at Oaklawn Park.
Especially in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, which, at age 7, he won for a record third time Saturday.
“He sure doesn’t feel like a 7-year-old,” jockey Joe Talamo said after Whitmore surpassed $3 million in career earnings from 34 starts.
Though he has run a faster six furlongs this year, the Pleasantly Perfect gelding turned back a Breeders’ Cup Sprint-caliber field by three-quarters of a length in 1:08.95. So daunting did his task appear that the 5-2 program favorite returned $8.20 per $2 win ticket. His ninth Oaklawn victory came over a track that, from 14 starts, he has never finished worse than third.
Like Muhammad Ali in 1974 against George Foreman in the African night, Whitmore reclaimed a title, one that he won at age 4 in 1:08.35 and repeated at 5 in 1:09.77. It came near the end of an Oaklawn season that Whitmore, second by 2 3/4 lengths to future champion sprinter Mitole in the 2019 Count Fleet, lost to a second Steve Asmussen trainee, Share the Upside, in the Feb. 8 King Cotton.
As for those saying he was over the hill, Whitmore effectively said, “Not so fast, my friends.” The Old Boy had an “I’m-back” look about him when winning the Hot Springs for a record fourth time in a meet-topping 1:08.54 March 7. Glorious confirmation came Saturday.
All that was missing was a huge crowd to cheer him down the stretch and to the Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle. The late W.C. Heinz, describing such a moment on Babe Ruth’s final visit to Yankee Stadium, described it as “a cauldron of sound he must have known better than any man.”
Even with the grandstand closed for a fifth consecutive Saturday, Whitmore outran 10 rivals and the force of history. A Grade
1 winner at historic Saratoga (2018 Forego), Whitmore collected
$210,000 from his seventh Oaklawn stakes victory, Talamo, applying knowledge learned in their last two collaborations, made his third trip aboard Whitmore a command performance — but not to hear the jockey say it.
“I’m not going to take any credit for that,” said Talamo, who kept Whitmore out of trouble in the 11-horse field. “Hats off really to (trainer) Ron Moquett. I’ve been fortunate to ride this horse three times, and to be honest, each time he’s felt even stronger. That’s just a testament to his conditioning with this horse.
“They’ve done an amazing job. I’m just grateful and fortunate to ride him.”
Moquett watched the race from home, just beyond the Oaklawn backstretch.
“I’m proud for him,” Moquett said by phone. “I’m noticing peo
ple saying ‘The great’ and ‘legendary.’ People that are saying that don’t throw around those words. To me, he’s been that, but it’s so cool to see this horse that has so many people that love him and follow him to be able to do what he does and to make a lot of people that happy.”
Visually, Whitmore appeared to drag Talamo to the front at the quarter-pole, normally the spot where the gelding is in motion from midpack. Hidden Scroll, a romping last-out winner over the track for Bill Mott, led by a half-length after a half in 44.67 seconds as Whitmore menaced three wide.
“It was kind of an interesting setup,” Talamo said. “I really didn’t think I was going to make the lead that early on. That’s a testament to his ability. He broke really sharply today. He put me in a really great spot down the backside, and really the whole I was kind of just smiling, waiting for his momentum to get going.
“Just down the lane, I kept busy on him. What a racehorse.”
Flagstaff, last early, finished second under a rush with Joel Rosario aboard, a strong Oaklawn debut for the last-out winner of Santa Anita’s Grade 2 San Carlos March 7. Oaklawn-raced Manny Wah closed up the rail for third at 74-1 under Corey Lanerie, who replaced an injured Channing Hill in the saddle. Nitrous, last year’s Bachelor winner locally, was fourth by a neck over Hot Springs Stakes show horse Wendell Frog.
Some really good ones were left behind on Whitmore Day at Oaklawn.