White Abarrio | Horse Racing Free Tips

Cornett Brothers Back in a Big Way

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL–While C2 Racing Stable is in its infancy, its founders, brothers Clint and Mark Cornett are not new on the racing scene. In fact, Mark Cornett has worked as a racing manager and bloodstock agent for over 25 years and even put together the partnerships that owned champions Blind Luck and Dubai Majesty. He and Clint campaigned horses a decade ago under a different banner.

The Cornett brothers returned to the game just last year under their new moniker with the goal of running in the GI Kentucky Derby. That dream could come true if their colt White Abarrio (Race Day) runs well Saturday in the GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream.

“We have actually been in racing a while,” said Texas-based Clint Cornett, who was in Hallandale Beach to attend his colt's big race, as well as Wednesday's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. “We used to run under Turf Express in the early 2000s. In 2021, we decided to get back in the game and started C2 Racing Stable. We had been out of it since 2010.”

He continued, “I called Mark in the middle of 2021 and said let's get back in. I had a personal goal to run on the First Saturday in May and I told Mark to find us a horse. Little did I know, the second one we purchased is potentially going to be the horse.”

The Cornett brothers grew up in Texas and traveled to Louisiana to attend the races in their youth.

“Out of high school in the late eighties, we would head to Louisiana Downs from Dallas to watch the races,” Clint Cornett said. “It peaked our interest in becoming owners and we are pretty passionate about it.”

Their current stable is comprised of about 10 horses, most based at Gulfstream with Saffie Joseph, Jr. However, they do have a few at Oaklawn with Chris Hartman.

“Most of them are private purchases,” Clint Cornett said of their string. “We claim a few here and there and bought a filly [Wednesday] at the Gulfstream auction.”

That filly was Hip 83, a $250,000 daughter of the late Laoban. Consigned by Randy Bradshaw, she breezed in :10 1/5.

“Mark identified her and we were lucky enough to get her,” Clint Cornett said. “She will go to a training facility in Ocala until about August and then come back to the track.”

White Abarrio was one of the Cornett brothers' private purchases after he opened his account with a 6 3/4-length score at Gulfstream in his Sept. 24 debut, earning an 81 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Mark was at the track and saw him break his maiden at Gulfstream,” Clint Cornett said. “He called me and said, 'I just saw this horse run and I think we need to pull the trigger on him.' We talked to the owners and we were able to put together a private purchase. Luckily they were willing to sell.”

Part of the original ownership group, La Milagrosa, stayed in for a small piece and the colt was transferred to Joseph. He wired a one-mile optional claimer at Gulfstream in his first start for C2 Racing Stable Oct. 29 and finished third next out in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Downs Nov. 27.

“He won his first start for us at Gulfstream, then we shipped him up to Churchill to run in the Jockey Club because we wanted to get him a run over that track,” Clint Cornett said. “That was his first time going two turns as well. He did not have the cleanest of trips. He got in some trouble, but we were pleased with the effort. It showed us everything we needed to know going forward.”

White Abarrio called it a season after that effort and made his sophomore debut back in Hallandale Beach in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 5. Dispatched at 6-1, the gray pressed the pace early and drew off to win by 4 1/2 lengths over next-out GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. victor Simplification (Not This Time), who also runs back here (video).

“He ran very well in the Holy Bull,” Clint Cornett said. “You have to have some racing luck and he got a clean trip. Prior to that race, he missed two works because he got ill, so we did not know how he was going to perform. He came out of that race well, but we decided to give him a few weeks off since he had been a little sick prior to the Holy Bull. We wanted to give his body time to recover. That is one reason we skipped the Fountain of Youth, but he has been training well into the Florida Derby.”

The businessman added, “He had a slight fever about a week and a half ago for a day or two, but that broke. He did a quick little blowout on Tuesday [3f in :34 4/5] for the race on Saturday.

Cornett said he is raring to go ahead of Saturday's big race and feels good about White Abarrio's chances.

“We feel pretty confident,” he said. “We feel he is a versatile horse with good tactile speed. We have Tyler [Gaffalione] aboard him and have all the confidence in Tyler that he will put him in a great position to be successful.”

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White Abarrio Given Green Light For Florida Derby

C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) was confirmed a starter for Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa Tuesday morning by trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. The gray colt, last seen (No dominating in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 5, spiked a fever the on the Tuesday before his final drill, which was to be Sunday. He signaled his readiness for this weekend's task by blowing out three furlongs in :34.96 over a glib Gulfstream Park main track the morning of Mar. 29.

“He breezed phenomenal. He went super easy,” Joseph, Jr. said. “The track was probably faster because of the [Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale breeze show] yesterday. Visually, he looks well. Energy-wise he looks well. I think we've been more worried than he is. As a trainer, you're always concerned about something.

He continued, “He had his major work two weeks ago. He checked out good on Monday. On Tuesday [last week], he was supposed to go to the track to jog and he had a temp of 101.5, so we had to back off him for two days,” Joseph said. “We had to change things around.”

Winner of his first two local appearances last season, the $7,500 OBS January short yearling turned $40,000 OBS March breezer was third–with future GIII Sam F. Davis S. and GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) second–in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. last November. He sat a perfect trip in the Holy Bull, easily defeating a troubled Simplification (Not This Time) by 4 1/2 lengths.

Joseph, Jr. said he is unconcerned about the final work coming essentially on top of the race.

“As far as blow-out, working close, that's how I grew up in Barbados,” he said. “We always blew out on Wednesday or Thursday before the race. I learned that style, but obviously I train different over here, but sometimes I would work three days before a race. I'm not concerned about that. The thing in the back of your head is he did spike a temperature last week. That's always a concern.”

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White Abarrio on Track for Florida Derby

C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed an 'easy' five furlongs at Gulfstream Park in preparation for the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby.

“Two weeks out, so far, so good. Two weeks is a long time with horses, but as far as everything has gone preparation-wise, I'm very happy with how things have gone,” trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said.

White Abarrio, who breezed in company for his fourth workout since capturing the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S., was timed in 1:00.42, the fourth fastest clocking of 17 recorded at the distance.

“Today was more of an easier breeze with a good finish and a good gallop-out,” Joseph said. “Everything went to plan. He sat off a workmate; he relaxed well. I had his last quarter in :23, so it was a good finish.”

Tyler Gaffalione was aboard for the breeze.

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Bloodlines Presented By Caracaro: White Abarrio And A Forgotten Calumet Champion

White Abarrio confounded a lot of expectations when he upset the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park as the fifth favorite among the nine contestants.

This is not the first time that the handsome gray son of the Tapit stallion Race Day has been under-appreciated. Sold twice, the colt went through the OBS Winter Mixed Sale in January 2020 from the Summerfield consignment and brought only $7,500, selling to Jose Ordonez.

Brought back to the sales in the OBS March sale of 2021 by Nice and Easy Thoroughbreds, White Abarrio sold for a fair bit more, bringing $40,000 from Carlos Perez, and the colt races for C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC.

At OBS March, the colt went a furlong in :10 2/5, which is plenty fast, and looked good doing it. He had a stride length of more than 25 feet and produced a very good BreezeFig of 74, but a lot of young prospects went faster. Despite what some will say should be the case, among approximately equivalent horses, the one that goes faster brings more money.

Underestimated once more, White Abarrio is now on the Derby Trail.

Having a hoof in classic consideration is not a unique circumstance for some of the colt's near relatives, as his grandsire on the male line is three-time leading sire Tapit (by Pulpit), and his grandsire through his dam is two-time leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday), sire of 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic and last year's Derby second Mandaloun.

But this is the first time a son of Race Day has won a Kentucky Derby prep, and it's is one of the signal reasons that stallion is now serving mares in South Korea. Initially based at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, Race Day was sold to Korean interests in 2020. The handsome gray has sired seven stakes winners to date from four crops of racing age, and White Abarrio is the first graded winner among them.

Bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm, White Abarrio is out of the Into Mischief mare Catching Diamonds. Spendthrift bought the dam at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale for $425,000 from the consignment of breeder Columbiana Farm.

The mare somehow contrived not to win a race in a three-month career of three starts, but her first foal, White Abarrio, indicates that she may be the right sort. Catching Diamonds has a newly minted 2-year-old colt named Cage Match (Gormley), a yearling colt by Lord Nelson, and she is due to foal to that stallion.

The mare is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) and to the winning Scat Daddy mare Downside Scenario, the dam of Grade 2 winner Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief), who was also third in the G1 Hopeful Stakes of 2020.

Although each generation of this family has produced stakes winners and stakes producers, the Holy Bull winner's sixth dam, Miss Newcastle, stands apart, even from this distinguished lineage.

She is essentially the only conduit for her sire, champion Coaltown (Bull Lea), in contemporary pedigrees.

A foal of 1945, Coaltown was a member of the same distinguished crop of Calumet Farm racers that included Triple Crown winner Citation and champion Bewitch, all three by the farm's great sire Bull Lea (Bull Dog).

Unraced at two, Coaltown came around brilliantly at three, winning the 1948 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland so impressively that some believed he was superior to Citation. Trainer Ben Jones, however, famously remarked that “Citation can beat Coaltown doing anything.”

So it proved in the 1948 Kentucky Derby. Sent off the heavy favorites at 2 to 5 in a threadbare field of six, Coaltown led comfortably over the slow, muddy track until jockey Eddie Arcaro released Citation, who bounded away from his stablemate to win by 3 ½ lengths.

Citation proceeded through his three-year-old season gloriously, winning the Triple Crown, defeating older horses while giving weight, and becoming one of the greatest champions of the breed. A winner in 19 of his 20 starts in 1948, Citation was Horse of the Year, as well as champion 3-year-old colt, and Coaltown was champion sprinter.

An overworked ankle prevented Citation from racing at four, but Coaltown deputized as the top older horse in the country, winning 12 of 15 starts, including the Widener Handicap at Hialeah, the Gulfstream Park, and the Washington Park, all at 10 furlongs. An exceptionally fast horse who stayed 10 furlongs well, Coaltown was stronger and more effective at four, and he was named champion older horse, was a Horse of the Year in one poll, with Preakness and Belmont winner Capot winning another poll after defeating Coaltown in the Pimlico Special.

After two years of steady racing in which he won 20 of 28 races, none unplaced, Coaltown made only four starts at five, seven starts at six, winning a only a pair of minor stakes at Bay Meadows.

If that wasn't a sufficient drop from the limelight, when retired to stud at Calumet in 1952, Coaltown showed mediocre fertility, which dropped the quality of mares sent to him. From four crops, he sired only 80 foals, with 25 winners and no stakes winners. None. Calumet then sold the horse in late 1955 to the great French breeder Marcel Boussac, for whom Coaltown did no better.

Coaltown's link to posterity came from his last Kentucky crop and showed no notable racing class, but she was tough as racehorses come. Racing from two through eight, the chestnut started 130 times, winning 15, with 14 seconds and 13 thirds, for earnings of $26,292.

After all that, Miss Newcastle retired to stud and produced a dozen foals. All ran, nine won, and two became multiple stakes winners: Faneuil Hall and Faneuil Boy. Faneuil Hall produced a pair of stakes winners, and her full sister Faneuil Girl (both by Bolinas Boy) produced four. Faneuil Girl is the link that leads us through the generations to White Abbario, now a winner in three of his four starts, with earnings of $240,850.

How times have changed.

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