The freshly-minted Eclipse Award winning sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) will try to add to his seven Oaklawn stakes wins this winter, according to part-owner–along with Bob LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners–and trainer Rron Moquett. Whitmore punctuated his 2020 campaign with a dominating victory in the Nov. 7 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
“I think the reaction that we get from the rest of the people kind of mimics how we feel all the time about him,” Moquett said Friday morning. “It's like everybody's giving him credit, loving him or whatever. But Arkansas people kind of already thought that he was a champion, regardless, and it's kind of like the rest of world got to see what we've been thinking for three years.”
Among the gelding's 2020 Oaklawn starts, he took the Hot Springs S. last March-winning for a record fourth consecutive year–and a record third GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. in April.
Moquett confirmed Friday that the 8-year-old, who is currently in training at Oaklawn, will target a similar path in 2021 as to his championship season, beginning with the Hot Springs S. Mar. 13. Whitmore's major spring objective, according to Moquett, is again the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. April 10. Both races are at six furlongs.
“Still the plan,” Moquett said. “He's going to run a mile and a half at Oaklawn [this winter].”
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