JC / Railbird

Whitney Handicap

In the Fractions

Handicapper Brad Thomas critiques the 2013 Whitney Handicap results:

Nothing illustrates the weakness and over-the-hill nature of the handicap div like the unaggressive way speed horses have been ridden in …

races like the Foster and Sat’s Whitney. No one had the guts to test Fort Larned in the former and Cross Traffic got away with a cheap …

first quarter in the latter-effectively turning the 9F Whitney into a sprint with a galloping run-up. This decaying div is wide open …

to any developing 3YO still ambulatory late in the year and to Royal Delta …

Watching Cross Traffic and every other contender but Successful Dan drift, list, and stagger across the wire (replay), it’s hard to argue otherwise.

The DRF Formulator Whitney fractions:

Cross Traffic was given a Beyer speed figure of 108 for his Whitney win.

(Thomas tweets via @superterrific.)

He Was the Best

I’m heading up to Saratoga for the Whitney Handicap, which is a Breeders’ Cup Classic Challenge race and a stakes I best remember for 2006, the year Invasor won by digging in and outlasting Sun King by a nose. There is no Invasor in this year’s field, but the winner will get a guaranteed spot in this fall’s Classic, a race Invasor also won in 2006 at awesome odds of 7-1. If I’m missing, just a little, a horse retired more than four years ago, it’s probably because I recently wrote a profile of Invasor for Hello Race Fans, which includes several replays from his career, including — of course! — the Whitney.