White Abarrio wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2023 (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – White Abarrio, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner, breezed at Gulfstream Park Sunday for the first time since making an eye-catching return from a 5 ½-month layoff last month. The 5-year-old son of Race Day breezed three furlongs in 37 seconds with the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream being the primary goal.
White Abarrio, who returned to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.’s barn after back-to-back off-the-board finishes in the Saudi Cup (G1) and Met Mile (G1), became a prime candidate for the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus with his dominating comeback victory Nov. 22. He stalked the early pace before drawing clear by 10 ¼ lengths in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance.
Although the Dec. 21 Harlan’s Holiday (G3), a 1 1/16 stakes for 3-year-olds and up, was being targeted as a prep for the Pegasus, Joseph has decided to bring White Abarrio back in the Mr. Prospector (G3), a seven-furlong stakes Dec. 28.
“That kind of brought him back in form last year – the [seven-furlong] allowance and the [one-turn] Met Mile,” Joseph said. “It’s a similar thing. Two one-turn races back into a two-turn race. It worked last year.”
White Abarrio won the 1 1/8-mile Whitney (G1) and 1 ¼-mile Classic for trainer Richard Dutrow off a pair of one-turn races.
White Abarrio, who is owned by C2 Racing Stable LLC, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Antonio Pagnano, has a history of big-race success at Gulfstream, where Joseph saddled him for a victory in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) in 2022.
Also on Sunday’s worktab at Gulfstream: West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig Inc.’s Cugino tuned up for a scheduled start in next Saturday’s $140,000 Tropical Park Derby (G1), a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds on turf, while breezing a half-mile in 47.97 seconds, the third fastest clocking of 63 recorded at the distance. Shug McGaughey-trained Cugino is coming off a third-place finish in the Hill Prince (G3) at Aqueduct.
