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White Abarrio Owner Mark Cornett Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's been a roller coaster year for White Abarrio (Race Day), but it ended on the highest of possible notes, with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. To talk about the Breeders' Cup, future plans for the horse, the decision to hire Rick Dutrow as the trainer and more, co-owner Mark Cornett was the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast, which is presented by Keeneland.

With the status of Saffie Joseph, Jr. in limbo after he was temporarily banned by Churchill Downs when two of his horses died in the lead-up to the GI Kentucky Derby, Cornett, who owns White Abarrio in partnership with his brother Clint and Los Milagrosa Stable, needed to find a new trainer. He said he narrowed the choice down to two, Dutrow and Chad Brown. In the end, he thought Dutrow was the perfect fit.

“I had Rick in my mind all along,” Cornett said. “I've known him for a long time. Paul Pompa and I were really good friends. I put numerous horses in Rick's barn through some partnerships with Paul and had a lot of success. I know what a good horseman he is. He's one of the best, top five in the world, in my opinion. He was trying to rebuild his stable at the time. We were basically being forced by Churchill and NYRA to make a trainer switch. It's hard enough to manage these horses without having politics and racetracks and state vets and everybody else try to step in and make you do things you don't want to do. It was a bold move to hire Rick and I don't know too many people that would have done what we did. We have all the confidence in the world in Rick and his abilities and it all worked out.”

So far as next year's racing schedule goes, the $20-million Saudi Cup is definitely on the schedule. Cornett said there's a possibility White Abarrio could race beforehand in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

White Abarrio's Co-Owner Mark Cornett Joins Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

“The main goal is going to definitely be the Saudi Cup,” Cornett said. “If we were designing the perfect race for this horse it would be one turn at a mile and an eighth. And then they put the $20 million behind it. The timing of the race is a question mark. It's about four months after the Breeders' Cup. The only thing we really have to figure out is how to get him there at a peak. Do we run him in between? Do we send him over there to acclimate? Those are things that Rick and I will talk about and discuss what's the best way to win that race.”

White Abarrio's first big win on the year came at Saratoga in the GI Whitney S., but Cornett saw signs as early as May that the horse was about to take things to another level.

“I went to Churchill Downs in May and I hadn't seen him in 45 days, 60 days before that,” he said. “I couldn't believe my eyes on the physical maturity of this horse. He had probably gained 200 pounds. There was a physical transformation, from a boy to a man, which is what you want to see. He matured at the right time.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

So far as the race for Horse of the Year goes, Cornett realizes that Cody's Wish (Curlin) will likely earn the honor over White Abarrio.

“Whatever the voters decide is fine,” he said. “We're going to be around next year so we can take another shot. Maybe for Cody's Wish, it's meant to be for obvious reasons.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, 1/ST Racing and Lane's End, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss touched on the heartbreaking loss of Cody Dorman, the inspiration behind Cody's Wish, who died the day after the Breeders' Cup at age 17. The team reviewed the entire Breeders' Cup program, the dominance of the New York and European stables and the poor showing by the California barns, and gave their opinions on Horse of the Year, all agreeing that it should be and will be Cody's Wish.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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White Abarrio to Aim for Saudi Cup

A day after his victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, trainer Rick Dutrow was already mapping out a plan to take White Abarrio (Race Day) to the Feb. 24 G1 Saudi Cup. Dutrow said he hopes to leave the 4-year-old at Santa Anita for a while and probably will take him to Saudi Arabia to be prepared for the race.

“I would be comfortable running him in the Saudi Cup in his next start,” Dutrow said. “I'm going to be pushing for it. I think that's where this horse belongs.”

Dutrow said White Abarrio has established himself as one of the top horses in the world.

“From all the horses we've seen run, I think that it's going to take a big effort for a good horse to beat him in his next start,” the trainer said. “It's going to take a good horse to run a big race to beat them because this next race seems like it is absolutely tailor-made for him, a mile and an eighth around one turn.”

Should everything go to plan in Saudi Arabia, Dutrow said White Abarrio could head to the G1 Dubai World Cup in March before returning stateside to defend his titles in the GI Whitney S. and Classic.

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Classic Contenders Arabian Knight, White Abarrio Headline Breeders’ Cup Works

It was a tale of two Breeders' Cup preps Monday morning at Santa Anita for Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) and White Abarrio (Race Day), the former putting in an eye-catching six furlong work in 1:11.54 and then galloping out a mile in 1:37.57 without any pressing encouragement, as reported by the DRF in the Breeders' Cup Clocker Report, and the latter having it tentatively postponed until Wednesday. When asked for a reason, conditioner Rick Dutrow only said: “We weren't able to work [White Abarrio] this morning. Hopefully we'll get to gallop him tomorrow [horses are not permitted to work at Santa Anita on Tuesdays] and work him Wednesday.”

Bob Baffert was thrilled with the work from the GI Pacific Classic winner–who many believe will ultimately be the post-time favorite in the Classic–and likes the changes he's seeing: “I was really happy with the work and the way he has been progressing since the Haskell, which was kind of a disaster all around. He just seems to be progressing and continuing to get better with maturity. We've still got another couple of weeks to go, but I couldn't be any happier with the way he's coming into the race at the moment.”

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Dutrow Licensed to Train in Kentucky

Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., was approved for a training license by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee Tuesday. The voice vote was unanimous and without drama, and Dutrow's license goes into effect immediately.

Dutrow in February had regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC).

The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from six starts at Belmont Park since returning to the sport May 6.

“I just want to get my license there. Bring some horses there. Start racing. Start winning and losing, just like everybody else,” Dutrow said prior to the vote.

Dutrow's presentation in front of the committee clocked in at just 2 1/2 minutes, and consisted of him making very brief introductory remarks prior to providing concise answers to four questions from the license review committee members.

Dutrow appeared at the Lexington, Kentucky, meeting via video from New York that bore the identifying stamp of the law firm Paul Weiss. Dutrow was seated at a conference table, presumably next to an attorney, although that person did not speak during the presentation while Dutrow calmly and politely stated his own case.

Dutrow's presentation was by far the shortest among the four license applicants who were on the afternoon's agenda, and its brevity also stood in contrast to the last time Dutrow appeared before the KHRC committee seeking licensure in July 2020. At that last hearing, his legal strategy had involved testimony given by several industry participants who had vouched for Dutrow's worthiness to be licensed.

At that hearing nearly three years ago, Dutrow hadn't been licensed by any jurisdiction, and he hadn't served the full term of his New York revocation. He chose to withdraw his 2020 application when the committee gave him the option of doing so after making it clear his application wasn't going to be approved.

It was a different outcome on May 30, 2023, when Dutrow did not have anyone else speak on his behalf, and he was not pressed on any of his past transgressions by any member of the KHRC's license review committee.

Asked by one committee member to outline the extent of his planned racing stable in Kentucky and who would be taking care of his horses there if he was not on the grounds, Dutrow responded, “Yes, sir. I plan on being in Kentucky quite often with my horses, yes.”

That answer, albeit vague, seemed to satisfy the committee members.

Asked in how many states he currently holds a training license, Dutrow said New York is the only current jurisdiction, and that his application before the KHRC is his only active application.

In response to a query about how many horses are now under his care, Dutrow said, “I have 23 horses under my care at Belmont. But there's a bunch of them on farms that I would consider under my care. There's too many to count.”

One committee member then wanted to know about the conditions that had been placed on Dutrow's New York license regarding his need to submit to human drug testing. Was there something about his personal drug use that would cause the NYSGC to do that?

“Not that I'm aware of. I'm not aware of it,” Dutrow said.

That was it for the questioning. After hearing individually from all four applicants on the agenda, the committee went into executive session to deliberate before coming back into open session to vote on each applicant.

Dutrow's video feed had been turned off after his presentation, so his reaction to gaining licensure wasn't part of the KHRC meeting's YouTube video. A staffer indicated that Dutrow would be phoned afterwards with the results of the vote, but that he couldn't be phoned prior to the vote, because if he spoke without all committee members being able to hear and see him, it would be a violation of open meeting rules. TDN was not successful in reaching Dutrow for comment after the vote in his favor was taken.

Dutrow's trainees earned more than $87 million between 1979 and 2013. They won multiple graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races and the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown. He often topped the trainer standings at New York tracks during the 2000s decade.

Around that same time, Dutrow's official rap sheet maintained by the Association of Racing Commissioners International began to swell with violations related to an array of equine pharmaceuticals.

Between 2000 and his attempt to win the Triple Crown in 2008 with Big Brown, Dutrow was cited for 18 drug infractions, ranging from comparably benign violations for overages of legal medications phenylbutazone and Lasix, to more serious charges of using mepivacaine, an anesthetic that can be used to make sore horses feel no pain.

In addition to $20,000 in drug fines, Dutrow racked up a $5,000 penalty for providing misleading information to authorities about a workout, and was slapped with a $25,000 fine in 2007 for having contact with his stable while he was supposed to be serving a suspension.

On Nov. 20, 2010, the Dutrow trainee Fastus Cactus tested positive for butorphanol after a winning effort at Aqueduct. Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

The NYSGC's predecessor agency, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, revoked Dutrow's license on Oct. 12, 2011.

Dutrow battled that revocation for two years, both at the racing commission level and in the courts. His suspension officially commenced Jan. 17, 2013. Later that year he filed a failed federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages and a reinstatement of his licensure.

Dutrow has since paid a $50,000 NYSGC fine, his term of revocation in New York ended on Jan. 17, 2023, and he now has valid licenses from New York license and Kentucky.

Asked via email after the meeting to clarify whether the committee's vote signified full approval of Dutrow's licensure or if the entire KHRC board still had to vote on what the committee approved, KHRC executive director Jamie Eads wrote, “Yes, he is licensed.”

According to the roll call, the voting members of the committee were Eads, Paul Brooker, Greg Harbut and George Haydon.

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