Tag: Whitmore

Assistant trainer Laura Moquett, the wife of trainer/co-owner Ron Moquett, was the only one who galloped Whitmore during his storied career. The 8-year-old Champion Sprinter retired Saturday. (Image: Richard Rasmussen/Sentinel-Record)

Popular Champion Sprinter Whitmore Retired from Racing

Popular and petulant sprinter Whitmore was retired from racing on Saturday, ending a remarkable career culminating in his naming as 2020 Champion Sprinter of the Year. Whitmore finished fifth of eight in Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga. Sensing something was wrong with the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion, […]

Essential Quality nipped Keepmeinmind to win last month's Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. The two tangle again in Saturday's Travers Stakes, one of six Grade 1s on Saratoga's Saturday card. (Image: Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo)

Saturday at Saratoga: One of Racing’s Biggest Days of 2021

The names of those racing on Saturday’s Travers Day at Saratoga sound like a Thoroughbred all-star team: Essential Quality, Gamine, Letruska, Tribhuvan, Jackie’s Warrior, Life Is Good, Whitmore, Swiss Skydiver. All of them – and others you may have heard of – are set to run in one of Saratoga’s […]

Reigning Champion Turf Male Channel Maker will try giving trainer Bill Mott his record-setting fifth Bowling Green title in this week's finale of the Cross Country Pick 5. (Image: Janet Garaguso/NYRA Photo)

Cross Country Pick 5 Takes to the Stakes This Week

Four stakes races up and down the graded-stakes ladder highlight this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. The horizontal exotic once again brings you races from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s Woodbine. The minimum bet for the three-track, five-race wager is 50 cents. The Cross Country Pick […]

Mischevious Alex won his first Grade 1 with this 5 1/4-length blowout in the Carter Handicap in April. He is the 2/1 favorite to win his second at Saturday's Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand)

Watch the Blue-Blooded Sprinting Talent Clash in the Vanderbilt

The Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes gives you the venerable Whitmore, the ubiquitous Firenze Fire, and the dynamic Mischevious Alex. Enough sprinting talent to throw in a trifecta box at, say, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint this fall at Del Mar. Except that, a few hours after Saratoga turns that […]

The temperamental Whitmore in one of his more gentle moments, right after he and Irad Ortiz Jr. won the Breeders' Cup Sprint last November at Keeneland.(Image: Coady Photography)

Temperamental, Cranky Champion Whitmore Returns to Saratoga

Whitmore is the equine version of your cranky uncle; the one who tells the great stories when he’s not telling the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. And while this creates a special brand of headache for trainer Ron Moquett, it also comes with built-in aspirin for those headaches. […]

Authentic carried jockey John Velazquez to a Kentucky Derby title in September and his connections to an Eclipse Award as 2020 Horse of the Year. (Image: Gregory Shamus/Getty)

Authentic Runs Away With 2020 Horse of the Year Eclipse Award

Authentic rarely won his big races by big margins. But, he won his final “race” – the Eclipse Award for 2020 Horse of the Year – by a Secretariat at the Belmont-esque 31 lengths on the track. The Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion garnered 224 out of a […]

Winning the Breeders' Cup Classic two months after capturing the Kentucky Derby likely made Authentic the Horse of the Year. The 50th Eclipse Awards will be announced Jan. 28. (Image: Horsephotos.com)

Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl Head Eclipse Awards Finalists

Horse of the Year candidates Authentic, Improbable, and Monomoy Girl headline the finalists for the 2020 Eclipse Awards, announced Saturday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), and the Daily Racing Form. The Eclipse Awards get their name from the iconic 18th-century racehorse and […]

Authentic went gate-to-wire to win the Breeders' Cup Classic over an all-star field of Grade 1 stakes winners. (Image: AP Photo)

On Record-Setting Day, Breeders’ Cup Handle Takes Mild Dip

With Kentucky Derby champion Authentic, standout filly Gamine, and Knicks Go all winning Breeders’ Cup races in record time – and without general public tickets available – the Breeders’ Cup World Championships managed its sixth-highest all-sources handle since 2007. That was the year the Breeders’ Cup expanded to two days. […]

Whitmore, seen here winning his fourth consecutive Hot Springs Stakes, goes for his second Forego Stakes title in three years Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Whitmore Returns to Take On High-Grade Field in Forego Stakes

Do you go with the crafty veteran, Whitmore, he of the 14 wins in 35 races? Or do you forego that lukewarm favorite in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes and bet on Funny Guy? What about foregoing Funny Guy and playing betting brain games with Mind Control or Complexity? The […]

This volatile display of Volatile's speed went on display at June's Aristides Stakes. He opens as the 4/5 favorite for Saturday's Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. (Image: Coady Photography)

Vanderbilt Handicap Short on Entries, Long on Volatile Speed

The secret is already out. But you can confirm exactly how volatile a sprinter Volatile is in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. The featured race on Saratoga’s Saturday card gives you a glimpse of some of the best sprinting talent in the country. Only five horses are entered […]

Whitmore won his third Count Fleet Sprint Handicap in four years in April. He goes for his 15th career win and second Grade 1 in Saturday's Alfred Vanderbilt Stakes. (Image: Richard Rasmussen/Hot Springs Sentinel-Record)

Whitmore Shows the Youngsters How This Sprinting Game Works

Usually, horses of Whitmore’s age are working in the breeding shed or are retired. They’re not doing morning workouts. Usually, horses with 14 career wins are … well, rarely do horses with this portfolio get to 14 career wins. But here is Whitmore, a 7-year-old gelding, seeking career win No. […]