Whitney could provide clarity to older male division

Ron the Greek began his five-year-old campaign with a stylish win in the Big ‘Cap (Benoit Photos)

A contentious field of nine runners has been entered to go 1 1/8 miles on
Saturday in the Grade 1, $750,000
Whitney Invitational Handicap
at Saratoga, and the prominent affair could help bring some clarity to the older male
division.

Ron the Greek has been installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite, and will
be seeking to solidify his status as one of the top older males in training following victories in the
Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap and Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap earlier this
season. The five-year-old bay’s other two starts this year resulted in runner-up
finishes in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and Florida Sunshine Millions Classic.

All four of those races came with jockey Jose Lezcano in the saddle, and
he’ll get a leg up aboard the son of Full Mandate from Hall of Fame conditioner
Bill Mott on Saturday.

“I think (Ron the Greek is) a real late-developing horse,” Mott said. “He’s a huge,
gorgeous horse, actually, but a horse you could tell probably wasn’t going to
get good until later in his career. I think it’s just a timing issue, as most
things are in this business. He’s starting to come around at the right time and
just landed in our hands at the right time.”

Flat Out’s last win came in the 2011 Jockey Club Gold Cup (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)

The son of Flatter was 2-3-1 from eight starts in 2011, including victories
in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, but couldn’t
seem to find that same spark in his two races over the winter. The veteran
performer showed signs of last year’s form in the Monmouth Cup, and will keep
jockey Rosie Napravnik aboard for the Whitney.

“I thought (the Monmouth Cup) was a perfect race for (Flat Out),” Mott
asserted. “He probably didn’t get to run full out the whole way. He was kind of
stuffed early in the race and got out late. He was closing on the winner.

“It was a useful race. I think it was the type of race you’d like going into
a major race like the Whitney. It was enough, but it wasn’t too much. I think
sometimes we panic a little bit if a horse runs clearing the field and worry
about him running a little too fast, but I think this was probably just right.”

Rule is part of a two-prong entry from Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Todd
Pletcher’s barn and will join stablemate Caixa Eletronica in the Whitney gate
on Saturday.

The Roman Ruler five-year-old made his seasonal debut in the Monmouth Cup,
returning in that one-mile contest from a nine-month layoff. He closed out his
four-year-old campaign with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold
Cup Handicap on October 8, but prior to that was third in Saratoga’s Grade 1
Woodward and captured the Birdstone Stakes over track and distance.

Rule easily triumphed in the Monmouth Cup last out (Bill Denver/Equi-Photo)

Rule drew the rail post under jockey Joe Bravo while Caixa Eletronica will
break from post 3 with Javier Castellano aboard.

“The post positions are fine,” Pletcher remarked after the draw. “We’ll be
able to save ground around the first turn. There appears to be plenty of pace in
there so hopefully we’ll be able to save ground and work our way into a good
position.

“I think the division is still very wide open,” he added. “You have a couple of major
players on the East Coast who are not in here and will probably show up in the
Woodward. It’s a division that’s waiting for someone to step up and take control
of on the dirt. Maybe Game on Dude has taken control on the West Coast, but it’s
kind of wide-open here, waiting for someone to reel off a couple in a row.”

Trickmeister and Hymn Book will once again face off in the Whitney, with the
former attempting to finally finish in front of his his rival. The pair first
met up in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on February 11, where the lightly raced
Trickmeister suffered his first career loss. Hymn Book captured that
nine-furlong event, and the Arch gelding would go on to be fourth in the Oaklawn
‘Cap, a close fifth in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special and second last out in the
Suburban.

Hymn Book gutted out a nose decision to take the Donn Handicap in his season opener (Adam Coglianese Photography)

“I was pretty happy with the way he did finish. He came on against
that group of horses. The winner is a very nice horse, Mucho Macho Man. He had a
really good trip and been laying up there, and it’s hard when you give up that
much ground to catch up to that kind of horse.”

Trickmeister, on the other hand, has only raced twice since the Donn. The
Proud Citizen five-year-old scored in the Vanlandingham Stakes but was three
lengths behind Hymn Book when third in the Suburban. Ramon Dominguez has the
return call on Trickmeister while John Velazquez will be aboard Hymn Book.

Fort Larned posted a three-length, front-running victory in the Grade 3
Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap last out off just a two-week break, having
run eighth and last in the Stephen Foster under the Twin Spires prior to that.
The E Dubai colt was made the 7-2 second favorite on the Whitney morning-line.

“He really stepped it up,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “The blinkers really helped him. He just wanted to run a little bit. I went into
the Stephen Foster with a pretty horse. I didn’t have a racehorse. So, he didn’t
run much that day. The owner was willing to take a shot (two weeks later for the
Cornhusker Handicap).”

Hunters Bay is two-for-two against stakes company entering the Whitney (WEG/Michael Burns Photography)

“He probably has his best works on the dirt,” Baker said. “I think he’s
getting better. His races in Florida last year and this year, except the last
one last year, were good races, but he’s finally getting to go as far as he
wants to go. All those were sprints waiting to go two turns, and we never got to
go two turns. He kicked himself last year in the stall, so he was out for the
summer. We finally got a chance the other day to run a mile and a quarter (in
the Dominion Day), which is what he wants to do and was bred to do.

“We fit. Historically, 15 years ago, horses used to come from
Woodbine and do good here all the time. They haven’t recently run any good, but
we were second in the (Grade 2) Jim Dandy with a horse last year,
Moonshine Mullin, so we think we have a real chance with a horse that wants to
go this far.”

Baker said that both the prestige and $750,000 purse of the Whitney were
factors in entering Hunters Bay on Saturday.

“It’s a lot of money,” the horseman admitted. “He’d accomplished everything he
needed to accomplish (at Woodbine). There was a race at Woodbine for $125,000 or
$150,000 on Saturday (Grade 3 Seagram Cup), but, obviously (owner/breeder Adena Springs) is standing
Ghostzapper themselves, and they’d like to stand this horse at stud. Part of
that deal is to win a Grade 1. Winning the Whitney would mean a whole lot.

Endorsement first gained fame when taking the Sunland Derby in 2010 (Tommie Morelos/Coady Photography)

“He doesn’t run on any medication, period. No Lasix, no bute, nothing,”
trainer Eoin Harty stated. “The
owner wants to try it, he wants to bring him to Dubai next year for the (Group
1) World
Cup, and this is how he thinks he’s going to get him there. He didn’t have any
Lasix in him when he set a track record at Gulfstream, didn’t have any Lasix
when I took him to Texas (for the Texas Mile), and it was a hundred and sixty
degrees that day. He’s sound, so there’s no reason to give him anything for
that, and he doesn’t bleed, so there’s no reason to give him any Lasix.

“He had a lot overcome in his last race, mental issues more than anything
else. I think he’s changed; I think he’s turned the corner, and I think he’ll
run a very good race on Saturday. He’s acclimating very well. He’s been over in
the paddock every day, every afternoon. He’s really adapted and really likes
this environment, and I couldn’t be any happier. This is the best he’s done for
me all year.”

Saratoga’s Saturday card will feature two other stakes, with seven sophomore
fillies set to go six furlongs in the Grade 1, $300,000
Prioress Stakes and a field of 12
distaffers entered
in the $100,000
De La Rose Stakes
at a mile on the inner turf.