White Abarrio Scores Decisively in BC Classic

In the minds of some, White Abarrio's convincing one-length victory in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) cemented his status as the Horse of the Year. But to trainer Rick Dutrow, it extends far beyond that. "He's my Horse of the Decade," Dutrow said. Six months after he sent out his first starter following a 10-year suspension for multiple drug violations, Dutrow and his son of Race Day ascended to the top of the racing world Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park when the 4-year-old followed up a lopsided, 6 1/4-length win in the Whitney Stakes (G1) with another decisive score, this time against international competition in the richest race at the World Championships. "I don't think I'm back at the top, but I feel the white horse is. I'm just hanging around him," Dutrow said about the gray or roan colt owned by C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable and bred by Spendthrift Farm. "As soon as I get stables like Todd (Pletcher) and Chad (Brown), then I'll feel like I'm back on top. Right now I just feel lucky to be around him. I feel like he's on top, and I love being around good horses like that. It just makes you feel like a good horseman, and that's what I always wanted to be." As for the matter of Horse of the Year, Saturday's length win over Japan's Derma Sotogake (JPN) makes him one of the favorites for Horse of the Year and the champion older dirt male. "If I was sitting on the panel, I'd vote for him. But I'm not, so I can't say that," Dutrow said. After spending the past decade away from the sport in which he grew up as the son of Maryland-based trainer Dick Dutrow, Rick Dutrow's return has become a center-stage event thanks to the exploits of White Abarrio. One of the sport's top trainers before the suspension, the jive-talking Dutrow trained Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Big Brown during his best year of 2008 when he won 173 races and his horses earned slightly more than $12 million. He also trained 2005 Classic winner Saint Liam in a training career that has featured 1,825 victories, a 25% win rate, and earnings of $89 million before Saturday. Yet since his return in May, he entered Saturday with 14 wins from 82 starts and a 17% win rate since May 6, when he won with his very first starter. It's been a slow go, though Dutrow hopes his cell phone will start ringing a lot more after Saturday's glittering victory. "Hopefully it helps me pick up nicer horses and more higher quality clients and stuff because I want to be around good horses. I'm lucky to be around him right now. I don't have a stable packed with good horses, and that's really what I want, and I am going to be striving for it," Dutrow said. "I'm going to be calling everybody tomorrow when I get done with Disneyland and say, 'Hey, I am ready for some horses here. Can you send me some horses?' Believe me." How the produce of the Into Mischief mare Catching Diamonds came into Dutrow's life was tumultuous, to say the least. Saffie Joseph Jr., who trained White Abarrio last year when he won the Florida Derby (G1), received an indefinite suspension by Churchill Downs in early May after two of his horses died suddenly at the Louisville track. (It was lifted in late June after necropsy reports found no banned substances in the horses.) With Joseph's participation in New York also uncertain this spring, his owners looked for a New York trainer. They called up Dutrow and White Abarrio's first start for him was a promising third behind Cody's Wish in the June 10 Metropolitan Handicap (G1). Joseph was eventually permitted to run in New York and began doing so in late June. "I wanted to run in the Met Mile, so I had to make a trainer switch," said Mark Cornett of C2 Racing. "I've known Rick a long time. I know exactly what he's capable of. This horse was tailor-made for him. The horse has blossomed like a horse I'd never seen. Everything came together for this horse. "It was a very, very short list of New York trainers, and I called and talked to Rick. We probably talked for 30 minutes, and I pulled the trigger." The key decision that led to Saturday's win came immediately after the Whitney when Dutrow quickly decided to train White Abarrio up to the Classic and ship him to Santa Anita as soon as possible to train for the race. "I don't know if it was a plan," he said about the three-month layoff. "It was a reaction. I thought it was better for the horse as opposed to just hanging back in New York where you could get stuck with weather and stuff like that. It was just 'Let's go.'" A field of 12 contested the 1 1/4-mile Classic, and it was the 3-year-old Pacific Classic (G1) winner Arabian Knight who set the quick early fractions of :45.73 and 1:10.28. Irad Ortiz Jr. had White Abarrio ($7.20), the 5-2 favorite, third on the backstretch and approaching the quarter pole, he went after the leader and forged to the front, leading by a length at the eighth pole. Hiroyuki Asanuma's Derma Sotogake, a 3-year-old son of Mind Your Biscuits who was fourth on the backstretch, tried to keep pace with the multiple grade 1 winner but could not cut into the margin in the final eighth. Godolphin's Proxy, bidding for the stable's third Breeders' Cup winner of the day, broke from the outside post and rallied from ninth to take third, 1 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up. "I thought he ran super. He was the only one who was flying at the end. It was a great way to go out," said Mike Stidham, who trains Proxy, a Tapit 5-year-old who will begin life as a stallion next year at Darley. Arabian Knight, the 3-1 second choice, was fourth, and Ushba Tesoro (JPN), bidding to become the first winner of the Dubai World Cup (G1) and the Classic in the same year, was fifth at 7-2 odds. White Abarrio, a winner of seven of 15 starts with earnings of $4.94 million, originally raced for Clap Embroidery and trainer Carlos Perez but was bought by his current connections for a "mid-six-figure" sum after a winning debut. That priced dwarfed the $7,500 it cost Jose Ordonez to buy him at the 2020 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale from the Summerfield consignment. He was then pinhooked for $40,000 by Nice and Easy Thoroughbreds at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale when Perez bought him. He is the first of five foals from his dam and the only one who has raced. She also has a yearling Lord Nelson colt and a 2023 Yaupon filly. "It's a great thing to breed a Breeders' Cup Classic winner. It's a credit to everyone on our farm. We have a wonderful crew. So many people who work so hard and this is a credit to ownership for the backing they give us and so many people who work so hard," said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm. "We wish we still had him in the stable. We didn't sell him for very much money. He was a son of Race Day who was by a mare who was non-descript at the time. It's been remarkable to watch his career." When asked if Spendthrift might add its one-time baby to its stallion roster, Toffey chuckled. "We'll see. Prior to today I would have said no. But after today, we better start talking about it," he said with a laugh. If Spendthrift is indeed interested, it should move fast before the price jumps. Dutrow already has the next race for White Abarrio targeted, the Feb. 24 Saudi Cup (G1) in Saudi Arabia with a purse of $20 million. "We're not done. His next race, around one turn at a mile-and-an-eighth? We're licking our lips," Dutrow said. "I'm going to buy a bunch of ChapStick because I am going to need it. I'll tell you right now."