18-05-2025
White Abarrio Stretches Legs At Saratoga With Eye Toward Met Mile
C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable's multiple Grade 1 winner White Abarrio reacquainted himself with the Saratoga Race Course main track Friday, posting a half-mile breeze in 49.27 seconds in company with New York-bred Bustin Bullet for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
'He went a half from the three-eighths and he galloped out five-eighths, which was a little more than he should have, but we just wanted him to stretch his legs over the surface,' Joseph said. 'So far, so good.'
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The 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner arrived in Saratoga last Saturday from Gulfstream Park, where he drilled a five-furlong bullet in 59.20 on May 7. The 6-year-old son of Race Day is undefeated this year, boasting scores in Gulfstream's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup in January and the Grade 3 Ghostzapper last out on March 29 with a 5 1/4-length tour de force.
White Abarrio, who captured the 2023 Grade 1 Whitney at the Spa, is searching for an elusive win in the $1-million Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November at Del Mar. White Abarrio finished third in the 2023 Met Mile and fifth in last year's running, both while in the barn of Rick Dutrow Jr.
Joseph said White Abarrio will continue to do his training over the Saratoga main track in the coming weeks.
'He'll have two more breezes, and next week he'll have a pretty serious breeze between Thursday and Saturday,' Joseph, Jr. said.
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Joseph has a handful of other prospects for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, including recent Grade 3 Vagrancy runner-up R Disaster, who was a neck back of stablemate Haulin Ice in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares on May 4 at Belmont at the Big A. Campaigned by Averill Racing, Two Eight Racing and Anthony Mattera, the daughter of Awesome Slew could target the Grade 2, $300,000 Bed o' Roses on June 6.
'She's pointed there, and there is a possibility she could go somewhere else, but right now that's the race we're targeting,' Joseph, Jr. said.
C2 Racing, Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch's Indy Bay, who also worked a half-mile in :50.05 Friday over the Spa main track, is pointing to the $150,000 Jersey Girl, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, on June 8. The consistent daughter of Take Charge Indy has never been off the board in four starts, including back-to-back wins at Gulfstream in her first two starts for Joseph, Jr. with a tidy third-out graduation in March and a gritty three-quarter-length optional claiming win on April 25.
