{"id":345456,"date":"2025-08-15T02:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/345456\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T02:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:49:12","slug":"white-abarrio-works-after-credible-effort-in-the-whitney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/345456\/","title":{"rendered":"White Abarrio Works After \u2018Credible Effort\u2019 In The Whitney"},"content":{"rendered":"

White Abarrio Works After \u2018Credible Effort\u2019 In The Whitney<\/a> originally appeared on Paulick Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Multiple Grade 1-winner White Abarrio returned to the work tab on Thursday over the Saratoga Race Course main track, posting a bullet half-mile in company with Alexander Helios [47.24] in 47.04 seconds.<\/p>\n

Trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., the 6-year-old son of Race Day posted his first breeze since finishing a respectable fourth four lengths behind Sierra Leone in the G1 Whitney on Aug. 2 at the Spa.<\/p>\n

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The work came 12 days after the Whitney, which was the same amount of time Joseph, Jr. gave the gray horse before working him again after winning the G3 Mr. Prospector in December at Gulfstream Park. That began a series of works that led to a 6 1\/4-length romp in the G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January at the Hallandale Beach oval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he worked great,\u201d Joseph, Jr. said of Thursday\u2019s move. \u201cThat\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve worked him back in 12 days since the Pegasus, and I feel like it was a Pegasus work, so hopefully we stay as is and we\u2019re very happy with where the horse is at the moment. It\u2019s the happiest we\u2019ve been in a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a credible effort, we just didn\u2019t have him at his optimum yet,\u201d Joseph, Jr. added of the Whitney, where White Abarrio raced wide throughout and made a bid in the final turn. \u201cWe thought it was a good guideline because we were within four lengths of Sierra Leone and as wide as we were, he and Sierra Leone ran the fastest race on the Ragozin sheets. We feel we have moved forward since the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

White Abarrio is targeting a stretch-out to 10 furlongs in either the G1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 30 at Del Mar, or the G1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31 at the Spa. Both races award the winner a \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d berth into the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, a race White Abarrio won in 2023 when in the care of trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe older he gets, you feel more confident,\u201d Joseph, Jr. said of the distance. \u201cEarlier in his career, we weren\u2019t sure if he wanted to go a mile and a quarter, but obviously he won the Classic, and it was a fast-run race. I think that was probably the most impressive race of his life because of how hard he ran and how he was able to hold on. I think as he\u2019s gotten older, longer seems to be no problem for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph, Jr. said he will discuss options with owners C Two Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable. Should he stay for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he\u2019s likely to face a rematch with Sierra Leone amid a field that is also expected to include dual G1-winner Mindframe, and defending race winner and Whitney runner-up Highland Falls.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is under consideration, but we\u2019ll talk it over with the ownership group, and he might stay for the Jockey Club,\u201d Joseph, Jr. said. \u201cI think when you have the best, you\u2019ve got to run against the best. We think we have the best, so now is the time to take them on again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph, Jr. added that White Abarrio\u2019s workmate Alexander Helios, winner of the G3 Razorback Handicap in February at Oaklawn Park, is likely to join multiple graded stakes-winning stablemate Skippylongstocking in the G2 Charles Town Classic next Friday at its namesake course.<\/p>\n

The son of Cairo Prince was last seen finishing a distant last-of-7 in the G3 Blame on May 31 at Churchill Downs after setting a pressured pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t run good last time in an unexplainable race, so we backed off him a bit and he\u2019s rounded back into form,\u201d Joseph, Jr. said. \u201cHopefully, he\u2019ll start to get back to his top performance soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Daniel Alonso\u2019s multimillionaire Skippylongstocking, the 6-year-old Exaggerator bay is looking for his third consecutive Charles Town Classic score on the heels of a seventh-place finish in the Whitney, which was his first start since taking the G2 Hollywood Gold Cup in May at Santa Anita Park.<\/p>\n

Joseph, Jr. noted that Skippylongstocking also used the Whitney last year as a prep for a 5 3\/4-length romp in the marquee West Virginia route.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing good. He made a little move in the Whitney, but I didn\u2019t think he was at his optimum going into it,\u201d Joseph, Jr. explained. \u201cI felt like we needed to get a race into him, and I didn\u2019t want to go to Charles Town off a long layoff. The year before, he ran off the board in the Whitney, too, and then he won at Charles Town, so I felt confident running him in there and getting him a race rather than training him into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skippylongstocking boasts a 33-11-3-7 record with more than $3.6 million in earnings, including nine graded stakes victories.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Aug 14, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"White Abarrio Works After \u2018Credible Effort\u2019 In The Whitney originally appeared on Paulick Report. Multiple Grade 1-winner White…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[122637,122638,122640,95237,21368,1071,122636,79,112833,122639,16,15,122635],"class_list":{"0":"post-345456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-alexander-helios","9":"tag-g1-whitney","10":"tag-jockey-club-gold-cup","11":"tag-joseph","12":"tag-jr","13":"tag-racing","14":"tag-saffie-joseph","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-the-whitney","17":"tag-time-joseph","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-white-abarrio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115030508436869197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}