White Abarrio Set for Pegasus World Cup redemption After Breeders’ Cup Drama
- Kaeli Bartholomew
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Just moments before chasing a second Breeders’ Cup trophy, the striking light grey White Abarrio was scratched at the starting gate. He returns this Saturday in search of redemption.
White Abarrio is entered in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1), a race in which he aptly seemed to sprout wings last year, flying 6 1/4 lengths ahead of his competitors. That victory had been his first in graded company since he won the 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) as the race favorite, a price mostly owed to his romp in the prestigious Whitney Stakes (G1) three months earlier.
The son of Race Day had started his career impressively, winning his first two races at Gulfstream Park in dominant fashion. His true ability was first tested in his third start, when trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. took him to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), an early Kentucky Derby points race, where he ran well to finish third.
He stayed on the path to the Kentucky Derby the following season, taking two of Gulfstream’s three points races, the Holy Bull (G3) and Florida Derby (G1). But after a rear-of-the-field finish in the actual Run for the Roses that May, White Abarrio struggled to find the winner’s circle. Though he was not void of talent — he ran second in the Ohio Derby (G3) and third in the Cigar Mile (G1) — he was off the board in three of his five post-Derby starts.
Finally, in the second start of his four-year-old season in 2023, White Abarrio went 4 ½ lengths clear in an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park. He got a change of scenery two months later when he was transferred to Rick Dutrow’s barn ahead of the Met Mile (G1), in which he finished third. The wins in the Whitney and Breeders’ Cup Classic that followed rocketed him to the top of the sport, making him the highest earning horse of any age that season ($3,883,800) and an Eclipse Award finalist in the Horse of the Year and Older Dirt Male categories.
A trip overseas to kick off his five-year-old season in the rich Saudi Cup (G1) proved fruitless, as White Abarrio finished a distant 10th, and a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Met Mile (G1) prompted owners C2 Racing Stables to make another change; they sent him back to a delighted Saffie Joseph, Jr.
Joseph saddled White Abarrio five months later for an allowance optional claimer, and he reminded his connections then how much he loves Gulfstream Park — he absolutely aired by 10 ¼ lengths. A game runner-up performance in the Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) in December primed him for his valiant Pegasus World Cup victory. His strong win in the Ghostzapper Stakes (G3) next out marks the most recent win of his career.
White Abarrio has raced three times since taking the Ghostzapper and has turned in a fourth-place finish in each event. White Abarrio was notably caught in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) chaos, where Phileas Fogg’s sudden inward move out of the gate triggered a chain reaction. He was slammed between horses and forced to carry the weight of two jockeys as Mindframe’s rider briefly clung to him before falling. White Abarrio's rider also lost an iron in the process.
White Abarrio’s bad luck carried on to the Breeders’ Cup, and controversy struck. Though he had passed each of the veterinarians’ rigorous examinations in the week leading up to race day, White Abarrio’s connections received the news that their horse, who was already behind the starting gate, would be scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The curious, murmuring crowd watched as he jogged past riderless, headed back to the barn.
This weekend, White Abarrio will be back on his favorite track for the Pegasus World Cup. A victory would earn him not just the title of the only two-time winner of the race, but also a guaranteed spot in the October 31 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland. Now seven years old, this could be his final chance to prove that he still has what it takes to be a champion.
Follow Champions of the Track
Comments