Spring showers in the morning and overcast clouds in the afternoon did its best to try and dampen the mood April 18 at Oaklawn Park, but with a heavyweight battle looming toward the end of the card in the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2), lessening the excitement was purely impossible.
The buzz built and built as the crowd filtered in throughout the day, and all the anticipation built into a roar from 35,000 fans as three horses—representing crowns from the Kentucky Derby (G1), Preakness Stakes (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), and Breeders' Cup Classic (G1)—were lined across the track at the quarter pole. When that final quarter-mile finished, it was the 7-year-old White Abarrio who taught the younger 4-year-olds, Sovereignty and Journalism, how it's done.
Despite only six horses in the field, the race unfolded in a completely unpredictable scenario as Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year and typically a closer, took the lead with Junior Alvarado entering the first turn. White Abarrio had been expected to be the leader, but when Sovereignty took command and he was up against the rail, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. had to find an alternate plan.
"I broke good, but I was not allowed to be where I wanted to be. I probably saw myself 2 (lengths) in front," Ortiz Jr. said of the early fight for the lead. "I saw (Sovereignty) broke sharp and I was not comfortable where I was going into the first turn."
But then, Sovereignty's archrival, Journalism, approached from the outside beneath Jose Ortiz and applied pressure. That decision quickly put a smile on Ortiz Jr.'s face because, with someone else making Sovereignty work, he could pull back and sit the stalking trip.
"Then I see outside of (Sovereignty) was Journalism. If I was outside of him, I wouldn't want to let him walk," Ortiz Jr. said. "I said, 'All right, let them ride their race and I'll try to sit and make a run.' I probably got an advantage, because I knew (Journalism) wouldn't let him walk. So, I went to plan B. I wait, I tracked them, I followed them."
The five-time Eclipse Award-winning rider's analysis was correct and Journalism stayed within a head of his nemesis as the pair, both making their first start in 5 1/2 (Journalism) and eight (Sovereignty) months, fired off fractions of :23.13, :47.03, and 1:11.27.
The big three separated from their lesser rivals on the far turn and Ortiz Jr. got to point three wide entering the stretch.
"I was able to put my horse in a position he really likes to be in," Ortiz Jr. said. "When he got the position, he gave me a good feeling. I trusted him, and then I just kind of went little by little, and he gave me a good kick on the end."
Sovereignty on the inside and Journalism between horses battled hard, but in the final sixteenth the rust may have gotten the best of them. White Abarrio powered home to a 2-length triumph in 1:47.49 for 1 1/8 miles; the fastest Oaklawn Handicap since Cigar in 1995.
The victory unleashed an outburst of emotions from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and White Abarrio's ownership: C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable.
"Thankful for a horse that's given his all to be a champion," an emotional Joseph said. "We thought our horse was doing well, we felt like he was going to run his best, but his best might not have been good enough. It surely was. (The owners) have been patient, they've listened to the horse. Today we were rewarded with one of the best races for a long, long time. It really materialized, the matchup, full thanks to all my team that works so hard with this horse."
Vindication for White Abarrio
White Abarrio's long career has included four grade 1 victories, including a triumph in America's richest race, the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2023, but has also been filled with a series of ups and downs. Probably the biggest down came Nov. 1 when the son of Race Day was scratched at the starting gate prior to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). The connections questioned and highly criticized that choice by the veterinarian team and filed a lawsuit earlier this week.
READ: Owners File Lawsuit Over BC Scratch of White Abarrio
White Abarrio came back for his first start since late August in the Jan. 24 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park, running a strong second to stablemate Skippylongstocking. Returning to the winner's circle Saturday was vindication for the owners.
"There was nothing wrong with the horse at the Breeders' Cup. What they were looking at, I have no idea," said C2 Racing Stable's Mark Cornett. "We missed a lot of training because of that. We had to fly out to California, come back to Gulfstream. We had to work him 5 (furlongs) off the vets' list. Nothing like we wanted to do going into the Pegasus, and he obviously came up a little bit short. This time, we got to do everything to prepare him exactly as we wanted to, and you saw the results."
Having that race under his belt this time is what allowed Ortiz Jr. to ride with extra confidence, even as Sovereignty and Journalism took control early.
"He ran huge last time (in the Pegasus), he never should have run like that, and when he did run like that, I was so happy and I knew if he got everything together 100% he'd run a big race," Ortiz Jr. said. "Last time, he hadn't run since (Saratoga in August) and he still ran that big. I was positive today, I knew he had (the prior start). So last time I rode him like he was 100% and I know he wasn't fit enough for that race. Today, that gave me a little extra confidence, and I rode him with confidence."
Sovereignty A Touch Short After Eight-Month Layoff
That potential lack of fitness from a prior start could have taken the power out of Sovereignty, as well as Journalism, in the final furlong. Sovereignty had not raced since winning the Travers Stakes (G1) in late August, having scratched out of the Breeders' Cup Classic with an illness that kept him out of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's barn until early January.
"(Sovereignty's) been off eight months ... there's a lot of benefit, I think, to having a race," Mott said. "The two horses who have been off for six to eight months, they both probably got a little tired. There's nothing like having a race. We trained him up and he ran a good race. If it would've been an ordinary bunch, he would've been fit enough. But it wasn't."
Mott said he was surprised to see Sovereignty on the lead and that Alvarado said the colt was doing it on his own. He did take solace in the fact that the Godolphin homebred son of Into Mischief was able to put away Journalism for second after the two ran together for most of the race.
"(Alvarado) didn't take anything away from him," Mott said. "He wasn't pushing him to be in that spot. He had to do all the running and, first out (off the layoff), he got pressured the whole way. The one thing: he put Journalism away."
With a lack of two-turn grade 1 options ahead of him, Mott said the likely next start for Sovereignty will come June 27 in the $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.
Win or lose, the connections all were in high praise of the buildup that came with the big matchup and the atmosphere at Oaklawn.
"That was good to see," Mott said. "You don't get those kinds of crowds at a lot of places anymore, so it was nice to see it."
"To have the buildup this race had since entries, and to have those three horses hook up at the quarter pole like that, you don't get to see that too often," Cornett said. "I think that's pretty special."
White Abarrio entered the race as the third choice and paid $9.20 to win. He picked up his seventh graded stakes victory and increased his career earnings to $8,445,170.
"When he's good, he is (unstoppable), and today he proved it," Joseph said. "In any kind of sport, you're always going to have people that question the horse, but I think nobody could not root for him today after that performance. I'm just proud of the horse."
"The older he's gotten, it's hard to think you'd still learn about a 7-year-old, but we're still learning about this horse," Cornett said with pride, as he reflected on what White Abarrio's career has meant to him.
Bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm, White Abarrio is out of the Into Mischief mare Catching Diamonds. His sire, Race Day, has stood at stud in Korea since the 2021 season.
