Fan-Favorite Whitmore to be Honored on Oaklawn’s Whitmore Day

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 saddled in the paddock. Whitmore, ridden by Laura Moquett, will then lead the post parade for the Whitmore S.

“I'm running horses that day and none of them are Whitmore, but at least I get to lead him over and all that,” said trainer Ron Moquett. “That's the thing. That's what this sport is about. I don't care if anybody knows me, but I'm so humbled that they know him.”

Fans attending Saturday will receive commemorative Whitmore baseball cards as they enter, and free Whitmore T-shirts, all while supplies last, can be redeemed on the north end of the first floor following the second race.

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Bobby’s Wicked One Sires First Foal

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 defeated the likes of champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect). He stands for $3,500 for Acadiana Equine at Copper Crowne. For more information contact David Tillson, 337-315-2439.

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Champion Whitmore Returns To Oaklawn With New Goal In Mind

Whitmore won Oaklawn's Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters a record four times and if the feisty 8-year-old gelding cooperates, he'll be leading the field again in 2022.

Whitmore has returned to Arkansas, but instead of preparing for the Hot Springs, a race he won in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, the now-retired Eclipse Award winner is about to take baby steps toward a possible second career as a stable pony for Ron Moquett, who trained the gelding and campaigned him in partnership with Robert LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners (Sol Kumin).

“Our ultimate goal, right now, the short-term goal, is have him lead the post parade for the Whitmore,” Moquett said Tuesday morning. “That's our goal, Doesn't mean we're going to do it. It just means we're trying.”

Oaklawn announced in early September that it had renamed the Hot Springs to honor Whitmore, the 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner, the country's champion male sprinter of 2020 and among the most popular and successful horses in Oaklawn history. The inaugural $200,000 Whitmore Stakes is March 19, a centerpiece of “Whitmore Day.” Oaklawn also renamed the Count Fleet barn, Whitmore's longtime home in Hot Springs, after the gelding.

Whitmore was retired after suffering a leg injury during a fifth-place finish in the $600,000 Forego Stakes (G1) Aug. 28 at Saratoga. A chestnut son of Pleasantly Perfect, Whitmore bankrolled $4,502,350 – 88th in North American history through Tuesday – after winning 15 of 43 starts. Much of Whitmore's best work came at Oaklawn, where he compiled a 9-6-1 record from 16 starts and earned $1,752,600. Whitmore also won Oaklawn's signature race for older sprinters, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3), a record three times (2017, 2018 and 2020). Swift Ruler, a local star during the 1960s, is the only other horse in Oaklawn history with seven career stakes victories.

Moquett said Whitmore was sent to Rebecca Maker's equine rehabilitation and breaking facility in Kentucky following the Forego. Whitmore has normally decompressed there the last several years before returning to Oaklawn – his winter home at every meeting since 2016 – to begin preparing for a new campaign.

Moquett said his wife/assistant Laura will be trying to re-train Whitmore for pony work, which encompasses escorting horses to and from the track during morning training hours. She was Whitmore's regular exercise rider.

“I have no idea,” Ron Moquett said, when asked if he believed Whitmore knows he's not running again. “This is kind of the same schedule he's been on. We're hoping he does. We're going to feed him different. Obviously, he's going to leave every day and come back.”

Moquett said Whitmore could eventually occupy his same stall in the renamed barn and be re-trained at Oaklawn or sent to more tranquil surroundings at the track's satellite training center about 25 miles east of Hot Springs, where the trainer keeps horses. Moquett said Whitmore left Kentucky Tuesday and is now at the training center. The gelding will return to Oaklawn after Thanksgiving, Moquett said.

Whitmore was a noted bad actor at two and gelded before his first start. Although he mellowed with age, Whitmore would buck and kick before loading into the starting gate for some races.

“We couldn't get him around the track as a 2-year-old, so he's changed a whole lot,” Laura Moquett said the morning after Whitmore won the 2020 Count Fleet. “We can actually train him now. He's softened his edges a little. He still has the tattoos of the barbed wire around his arm, but he has like a heart and mom on there as well now.”

Ron Moquett said Whitmore will now be going back to school, with his wife as tutor.

“Go out there and watch training,” he said. “Ride up there and sit there at the end of the day, when nobody's around, and watch a couple of horses train and then come back home. After a while, the hope is, he understands that this is what I do. I don't go train. Not go around kicking stuff. Laura will be on him. Laura's horse.”

Another former Ron Moquett trainee, Meanbone, successfully transitioned to pony work following his final career start in July 2020. Meanbone, a 9-year-old Silver Train gelding, worked as Moquett's stable pony during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting.

“We're just going to start like we did Meanbone,” Ron Moquett said. “Remember, he's a pony now and these other horses that we've re-homed and made ponies – we're going to try to do it with Whitmore and, hopefully, it sticks.”

Moquett said his wife would be aboard Whitmore to lead the post parade for the Whitmore Stakes, which is the final major local prep for the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 16. Whitmore ran second in both 6-furlong races in 2021.

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Engage Retired to Northview Stallion Station

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 earnings.

“This horse is pure speed,” said Northview general manager David Wade. “He is the first true sprinter we've retired to Northview in years.”

Engage will stand for $5,000 live foal and is now at the farm and available for inspection. He will be showcased with the rest of the Northview stallion lineup at an Open House Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

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