Whitmore

HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas--He got the call. They needed him and he was all too ready to oblige once again. Just like any serious athlete, you never really get comfortable with that dreaded word--retired. The chance to strut your stuff in front of the home crowd is just too enticing and probably most of all it is the opportunity to relive the good ole days. For Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), who won three editions of the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H., a GI Breeders' Cup Sprint--which earned him Eclipse honors--and took home...

HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas--Counting the well-mannered colt's strides as she takes him to the seven-eighths pole on a brisk Wednesday morning breeze this week at Oaklawn Park, Laura Moquett knows precisely where she wants to be. She understands how much throttle to let out and what visual markers are presenting themselves. Clocking is useful, but it is more about listening intently as she moves forward. An accomplished horseman like Moquett relishes the routine; everyone does, but as an assistant trainer she is never shy when it comes to a good equine...

After some test rings last spring, Oaklawn's fund-raising efforts for local Thoroughbred aftercare began in earnest Dec. 9 with the opening of its scheduled 68-day live racing season. The final six days of the 2021-2022 meeting raised $14,000 through the new "Ring the Bell" program, which gives winning connections following each race an opportunity to donate at least $100 toward aftercare. Money raised is earmarked for the Arkansas Thoroughbred Retirement Program and Rehabilitation Foundation Inc., a collaboration between the Arkansas division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and Oaklawn....

In this new TDN column, Christie DeBernardis will tell the stories of accomplished and/or popular former racehorses who are now enjoying second careers as show horses, track ponies, etc. Champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) and Laura Moquett's relationship goes back to when he was just a 2-year-old who refused to go around the racetrack without some coaxing. Fast forward seven years and that cantankerous juvenile is now an Eclipse winner and Breeders' Cup winner and has been retired from racing as Moquett's personal riding horse. On Thursday, less than 13...

CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's track record-setting Nashville (Speightstown--Veronique, by Mizzen Mast) has been retired from racing and will stand alongside his sire at WinStar, the farm announced Thursday. Tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' off his impressive 11 1/2 length debut romp at Saratoga in September of 2020, the $460,000 KEESEP buy followed suit with a dominant Keeneland allowance win a month later, good for a 103 Beyer Speed Figure. Nashville may not have won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, but he was the fastest sprint winner on the card....

A familiar face will be leading the post parade Saturday for the GIII Whitmore S.--the race's namesake. Oaklawn announced in early September that Mar. 19 would be christened as 'Whitmore Day,' renamed the Hot Springs S. after the gelding, and even renamed his longtime home at the track, formerly the Count Fleet barn, after him. Saturday's script calls for Whitmore to follow the field from the barn area to the track, then head into the horseshoe-shaped hedge infield winner's circle, traditionally used for stakes contests, as the horses are being...

The first foal by Bobby's Wicked One (Speightstown--Wicked Charm, by Ghostzapper), arrived Jan. 5.The filly is out of the Curlin broodmare Cced, winner of $141,063 and campaigned by LNJ Foxwoods. Bobby's Wicked One entered stud in 2021 for Acadiana Equine at Copper Crowne in Opelousas, La. Winner of the GIII Commonwealth S. at Keeneland in 2019, Bobby's Wicked One defeated champion Mitole (Eskendereya) in his 2-year-old debut and was second to him in his championship season GI Churchill Downs S. Over four years, Bobby's Wicked One earned $547,673 and also...

Multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Engage (Into Mischief--Nefertiti, by Speightstown) has been retired to Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md., for the 2022 season. The bay won graded stakes at two and four, including Keeneland's GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S., a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" event for the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint while defeating a field that included eventual Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect). He also captured the GIII Futurity S. as a juvenile and added two more listed stakes wins, retiring with $802,780 in...

Oaklawn will celebrate 2020 champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) with Whitmore Day, held at Oaklawn Park Mar. 19. The afternoon will be highlighted by the $200,000 Whitmore S., formerly named the Hot Springs S. Whitmore Day will also feature an appearance by Whitmore, in addition to t-shirt giveaways, and the first 5,000 fans will receive a commemorative Whitmore baseball card. Whitmore won the six-furlong race four times during his career for trainer Ron Moquett's Southern Springs Stable, Robert LaPenta, and Head of Plain Partners LLC. Victorious in the GI Breeders'...

Everything that top-class racing should be was on display over the last weekend. The six Grade l races at Saratoga on Saturday featured most of the leading horses in each division except older dirt males, and as a group they didn't disappoint, did they? Nor did their trainers. One race after another was dramatically decided at or close to the wire, and some of the runners-ups, including the Steve Asmussen-trained Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the Gl Runhappy Travers S. and the Todd Pletcher-conditioned Life is Good (Into Mischief) in the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY-Some 15 hours after he suffered a career-ending injury, Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) was being Whitmore Sunday morning. Acting like he was quite ready to run in another Grade I at Saratoga Race Course, the 8-year-old was positioned in the front of this stall, alert, active and on the prowl for a carrot or a piece of candy. During the gallop-out past the wire of the GI Forego S. Saturday afternoon, jockey Joel Rosario noticed something didn't feel right and pulled the champion up. As a precaution, he was...

Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables' Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) will attempt to win his third Grade I victory at Saratoga when he goes postward in the GI Forego S. Saturday. The 5-year-old pulled the 10-1 upset when going wire-to-wire in the 2018 GI Hopeful S. and returned to win the 2019 GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., again at double-digit odds. His Spa streak was interrupted last year when he was third in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and eighth in the Forego, but he returned to the...