Eight millionaires among star-studded cast for G1 Whitney

A star-studded cast featuring Champions Fierceness and Sierra Leone and a sextet of fellow millionaires led by four-time Grade 1 winner White Abarrio are set to line up for the 98th running of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga Race Course.
 
The 1 1/8-mile Whitney for 4-year-olds and up, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic November 1 at Del Mar, serves as the headliner on a 13-race program that includes five graded-stakes worth $3.2 million in purses.
 
Derrick Smith, Repole Stable, Michael B. Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier’s Fierceness, the Champion 2-Year-Old Colt of 2023, had his perfect record over Saratoga’s main track ended in the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap June 7 as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Prior to that he had won three times at the Spa, highlighted by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 DraftKings Travers last summer.
 
Fierceness encountered some early trouble in the Met Mile, contested out of the Wilson Chute, and pressed the pace but had to settle for second as the favorite behind Raging Torrent, who was retired in July with a leg injury.

“He was second-best on the day,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The way it unfolded he had a bit of a rough start from the inside draw. We had some concerns about the Wilson Chute to begin with but, in all fairness, Raging Torrent ran a good race. We just regroup and get back around two turns and look forward to running him the way he’s been training.”
 
Second to Sierra Leone in the Breeders’ Cup Classic as well as voting for 2024 Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, Fierceness won the Grade 2 Alysheba May 2 in track-record fashion at Churchill Downs in his only other start this year. Hall of Famer John Velazquez is named to ride Fierceness [124 pounds] from post 9 in the field of 10.
 
“He’s been training great like he always does and, so far, everything has gone according to plan,” Pletcher said. “He’s just super talented, and when he’s able to put together his ‘A’ race, he’s very, very good.”
 
Pletcher also entered Repole and St. Elias Stable’s Mindframe, a winner of his last three starts. After capturing the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile March 1 in his return from more than seven months away, the 4-year-old Constitution colt won the Grade 1 Churchill Downs sprinting seven furlongs and Grade 1 Stephen Foster going 1 1/8 miles, the latter June 28.
 
“It certainly proved his versatility and class. He’s off to a terrific start this year,” Pletcher said. “He seems like he’s capable of doing about anything. It seems like, as we kind of thought, he might come back and be even better at 4 than he was at 3. To accomplish what he did at 3 in so few starts was pretty remarkable, but he’s seemed to come back even better this year.”
 
Although Pletcher entered both horses, the veteran conditioner noted that he did so with the intent to run one horse.
 
“I think we will enter both with the idea that if all is well, we will probably just run Fierceness,” Pletcher said. “Six days is a long time in this business, so I want to keep all our options open. I wouldn’t think post position would weigh into it, we just want to make sure everyone is doing well all week, and as we know, things can happen. We wouldn’t want to not have the option to run Mindframe.”
 
Runner-up in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets and Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell in 2024, Mindframe [124 pounds] would have the services of Jose Gomez from the inside post.
 
Pletcher is a four-time winner of the Whitney, finding previous success with Left Bank [2002], Lawyer Ron [2007], Cross Traffic [2013] and Life Is Good [2022].
 
“I think it has established itself as sort of the marquee older horse race in the country next to the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” he said. “It’s very prestigious and it’s certainly one we’d love to add to [our] resume.”
 
Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith’s Sierra Leone is searching for his first win in three starts this year after finishing third in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic and second by one length in the Stephen Foster. Beaten a nose in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby last spring, he also finished behind Dornoch and Mindframe in the Belmont and Fierceness in the Jim Dandy and Travers prior to his Breeders’ Cup Classic triumph.
 
“Hopefully the race sets up for him. He's run some good numbers here and just come up a little short,” trainer Chad Brown said. “His end results have been better at other racetracks, but I don't think he hates this track. We'll see how the track is playing Saturday and if it's playing fairly and the pace is fair, I think he has a good shot.”
 
Sierra Leone will be joined in the starting gate by speedy stablemate Contrary Thinking. Privately purchased by Peter Brant, the lightly raced 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding exits a front-running open allowance victory going one mile June 29 during the Belmont at the Big A meet, his longest race to date.
 
Contrary Thinking, initially purchased for $280,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the graded stakes-winning Curlin mare Valadorna – a half-sister to the Brown-trained Complexity, who captured the 2018 Grade 1 Champagne and 2020 Grade 2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park.
 
“His first time going long was encouraging and he's a well-bred horse, particularly out of this good mare Valadorna which gives him a lot of stamina,” Brown said. “I think this horse can get a piece of this race.”
 
Flavien Prat gets the return call on Sierra Leone [124 pounds] from post position 5, while Dylan Davis is named aboard Contrary Thinking [120 pounds] from post position 8.
 
Gary Barber, C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable’s White Abarrio is the richest of the Whitney participants with more than $7 million in purse earnings from 22 starts, 10 of them wins, including a 6 1/4-length romp in the 2023 Whitney for previous trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. Now back with Saffie Joseph, Jr., the 6-year-old son of Race Day won the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup and Grade 3 Ghostzapper at Gulfstream Park to open 2025 but most recently finished a troubled fourth in the Met Mile.
 
“He didn’t get the best trip going into the first turn, but then after that he got into a good spot so it’s kind of hard to make excuses for that,” Joseph, Jr. said. “He should have still overcome that kind of trip, but you never know. You never know how much a bump takes out of a horse. You just have to move forward and forget what happened last time.
 
“He came out well since the race. We’re happy where we’re at with him now and we’re hoping he comes back and brings his ‘A’ game again,” he added. “Obviously it’s going to be a tough race but, on his day, he’s as good as any of them.”
 
Joseph, Jr. has another entrant in Daniel Alonso’s well-traveled 6-year-old Skippylongstocking, an 11-time winner that comes out of a popular three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup May 26 at Santa Anita, his first time going 1 1/4 miles. A veteran of 15 different racetracks in 32 starts, Skippylongstocking prompted the pace in last year’s Whitney before tiring to be fifth behind Arthur’s Ride.
 
“We wanted to try him at a mile and a quarter. He’d never tried it. He had run decent at a mile and a half when he was third in the [2022] Belmont. A mile and a quarter, we never got to do it,” Joseph, Jr. said. “We figured it’s a distance that he likes. Obviously, he proved that. He handled it well. Now he’s going to go back in distance. We feel like he’s doing well, and he always shows up.
 
“He’s consistent, he shows up, and he’s been on the go for a long time. He ships all over and we kind of take shots with him,” he added. “Just a horse you wish you had more like him. We’re thankful to have him. He’s already had a good year and hopefully he continues to have a big second half, as well.”
 
White Abarrio [124 pounds] will break from post position 7 with regular rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. up. Jose Ortiz gets the riding assignment on Skippylongstocking [122 pounds] from post position 2.
 
Also returning from last year’s Whitney is Hillwood Stable’s Post Time, who ran third at odds of 25-1 for Maryland-based trainer Brittany Russell. By 2016 Whitney winner Frosted, the 5-year-old Post Time ran second in last year’s Met Mile and has never been worse than third in 18 starts, 11 of them wins including the 2024 Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets at Aqueduct.
 
Second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and third in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile presented by TwinSpires.com to cap last year’s campaign, Post Time has two wins in three starts this year. Third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the Grade 3 Blame May 31 at Churchill Downs, he scored a popular 3 1/2-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony June 28 at Laurel Park last time out.
 
“Last race we accomplished everything we were trying to do with that one. At the end of the day, he’s knocked on the door in a couple of these big ones. You’re never going to find an easy Grade 1. There’s a lot of good horses out there. If we’re ever going to have a chance to win one with him, we have to run in them. That’s kind of how we’re looking at it,” Russell said. “He's run against some really good horses and he’s showed up. You’re just hoping it’ll be his day one of these days.”
 
Russell’s husband, Sheldon Russell, rides Post Time [120 pounds] from post position 10.
 
Highland Falls, a 5-year-old homebred of Hall of Famer Curlin, will represent Godolphin Stable and trainer Brad Cox in the Whitney. Highland Falls won three times last year including his only prior run at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, before being defeated in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He launched his 2025 campaign with a 5 1/2-length optional claiming allowance triumph going one mile June 27 at Belmont at the Big A.
 
“We were impressed,” Godolphin’s director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said. “He ran really well, and we couldn’t be happier with him. He’s trained well since then and we’re looking forward to getting him back to Saratoga. Obviously, he’s only run the once there, but he ran very well. We’re looking forward to getting him back up there and trying the Whitney. If all goes well, we hope to run up there twice.”
 
Luis Saez will be aboard Highland Falls [124 pounds] from post position 3.
 
Completing the Whitney field are Winchell Thoroughbreds’ $1.4 million earner Disarm [Joel Rosario, post 6, 120 pounds, bar shoes OFF], runner-up in the 2023 Travers and third in last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; and Jonathan Hardoon’s Mama’s Gold [Romero Maragh, post 4, 120 pounds], most recently second in the 1 1/8-mile Commentator for New York-breds July 4 at Saratoga for conditioner James Ferraro.
 
The Whitney is slated as Race 11 on Saturday’s card, joined by the Grade 1, $750,000 FanDuel Fourstardave [Race 8] and Grade 1, $750,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational [Race 9] on the grass; as well as the Grade 1, $500,000 Test presented by Ticketmaster [Race 10] and Grade 2, $200,000 Saratoga Special [Race 3]. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

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