Whitney Handiacap
Saturday, August 07, 2010, 05:48 PM ET
Track: Saratoga Grade: 1
Purse: $750,000
Distance: 9 Furlongs
Quality Road will resume his methodical march toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday against perhaps his stiffest competition so far this season in the $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Blame and Haynesfield have both emerged as legitimate players in the older male division since the pro-tem leader, Quality Road, delivered on one of his connections’ main objectives for 2010 in a powerful Metropolitan Handicap (G1) performance on May 31 at Belmont Park.
Blame and Haynesfield are two of only five challengers for Quality Road as he reaches another target on the way to the biggest goal, the $5-million Classic on November 6 at Churchill Downs. The Whitney winner will receive an automatic starting spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.
Quality Road, the 2-to-5 favorite on the morning line of New York Racing Association oddsmaker Eric Donovan, will spot five pounds to Blame and ten to Haynesfield as the 126-pound highweight.
“I think Quality Road certainly belongs in any conversation about the best horse in training,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I think if you look at his Donn Handicap (G1), for example, that was just an unbelievable race, and then to come back with a similar performance in the Met Mile—we believe he is the best horse in training.”
Blame will return to the same track and trip of his first stakes victory last August in the Curlin Stakes. He followed with a second-place finish in the Super Derby (G2) that stands as his only defeat during a six-race span that extended to the highest level on June 12 with his victory in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs.
“We are ready to take on all comers,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said. “I’m looking forward to it. If [Quality Road] goes :45 flat [for a half mile], I’ll be smiling.”
Haynesfield will carry his own four-race win streak into his first Grade 1 appearance. The New York-bred colt closed out 2009 with victories in the Empire Classic Stakes and Discovery Handicap (G3) and picked right back up as a four-year-old at Belmont Park with a state-bred allowance win on June 13 and a clear score in the Suburban Handicap (G2) on July 3.
The Whitney also drew Mine That Bird and Musket Man, two rivals from last year’s Triple Crown series.
Mine That Bird heads back to dirt after an impromptu and disappointing turf prep in the Firecracker Handicap (G2) on July 4 at Churchill Downs in his first start of the year and first race in the care of trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The four-year-old gelding has finished unplaced in three straight races and has dropped six straight since his huge upset in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).
