Whitney Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Maxfield Gets 105 Beyer Speed Figure For Second Place Finish In Whitney

Godolphin homebred Maxfield matched a career-best 105 Beyer for his runner-up effort in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

With Jose Ortiz up for trainer Brendan Walsh in the nine-furlong test, Maxfield stalked from fourth position before making a late move to complete the exacta 4 1/2-lengths back of the Brad Cox-trained winner Knicks Go.

“He ran great and we're very proud of him as always. He put in a good effort,” Walsh said. “He beat some nice horses and got beat by a very good horse. It happens.

“Brad's horse is a very good horse and when he gets alone on the lead, he's very tough to beat,” Walsh added. “He ran well and it's a little more experience for him.”

The 4-year-old Street Sense colt boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 9-7-1-1 with purse earnings in excess of $1.4 million. He entered the Whitney off consecutive Grade 2 scores at Churchill Downs in the Alysheba in April and the Stephen Foster in June.

“We'll leave him here for a while and see how he comes out of it and come up with a plan,” Walsh said.

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No Catching Knicks Go in Whitney

Korea Racing Authority's even-money favorite Knicks Go (Paynter) ran off from a strong field in Saturday's GI Whitney S. to earn an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and reassert himself at the top of the handicap division. Last seen posting a 10 1/4-length bounce-back victory in the GIII Cornhusker H. July 2 after settling for fourth at odds-on in the GI Metropolitan H., the grey opened up some five or six lengths on his competition down the Saratoga backside through a half in :46.76. His rivals started to inch closer after six furlongs in 1:10.32, with champion filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) taking the first run at him, but Knicks Go swatted away that challenge while well out in the track and re-broke near the sixteenth pole to hold sway by 4 1/2 lengths. The streaking pair of Maxfield (Street Sense) and Met Mile hero Silver State (Hard Spun) completed the exacta and trifecta, respectively, while Swiss Skydiver was fourth.

A 70-1 winner of the 2018 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity as a member of the Ben Colebrook barn, Knicks Go improved signficantly in 2020 after being transferred to Eclipse winner Brad Cox. His perfect three-start campaign was punctuated with a dominant win in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and he added the lucrative GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. over this nine-furlong distance at Gulfstream in January. He faded to fourth after dueling with fellow American Charlatan (Speightstown) in the $20-million Saudi Cup in February, and also weakened surprisingly in the June 5 Met Mile, but earned a career-best 113 Beyer at Prairie Meadows back at nine furlongs.

Saturday, Saratoga
WHITNEY S.-GI, $925,000, Saratoga, 8-7, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:47.70, ft.
1–KNICKS GO, 124, h, 5, by Paynter
                1st Dam: Kosmo's Buddy (MSW, $298,095), by Outflanker
                2nd Dam: Vaulted, by Allen's Prospect
                3rd Dam: Aube d'Or, by Medaille d'Or
($40,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $87,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Korea
Racing Authority; B-Angie Moore (MD); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Joel
Rosario. $535,000. Lifetime Record: 22-8-3-1, $5,368,995.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: F.
2–Maxfield, 122, c, 4, Street Sense–Velvety, by Bernardini.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. $185,000.
3–Silver State, 124, c, 4, Hard Spun–Supreme, by Empire
Maker. ($450,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Winchell Thoroughbreds
LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred
Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $100,000.
Margins: 4HF, 1 3/4, 4HF. Odds: 1.05, 2.10, 5.60.
Also Ran: Swiss Skydiver, By My Standards. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

“I was challenged a little bit going to the first turn, but [Swiss Skydiver] sent a little bit and I was just going to see what they were going to do and take it from there,” winning rider Joel Rosario said of his tactics. “I was a half-length in front going into the turn and I just decided to keep him going forward.

“The way he was moving he just skipped to the last quarter-pole. He loved what he was doing. He was very relaxed and going forward. I was really happy with the way he was going turning for home.”

Cox, who trains two other major Breeders' Cup Classic contenders in sophomores Essential Quality (Tapit) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief), said, “He ran huge. There's always a concern when you ship to Saratoga and this can be a demanding surface. I thought the race at Prairie Meadows really tuned him up well. He was well within himself and that was his big work for this race five weeks ago. He had three maintenance works at Ellis and he came in here a fresh and happy horse, ready to go.

“Maybe down the lane at the sixteenth pole I thought, 'Oh wow'. He's going to win this thing', and at that point I was thinking, 'What a horse. What a performance.' For him to go forty-six and change and spread out down the backside and get away from them and just kick on at the eighth pole and have to fight off some really, really good challengers. This was an incredibly deep group of horses and I'm very proud of the effort of my horse today.”

As for a path going forward, Cox said, “He's a very sound horse and he's happy. We wouldn't be here if he wasn't. We'll come up with a plan somehow. We'll just let the dust settle but it will probably be the Classic.”

Maxfield, a fellow Breeders' Futurity winner, was seven-for-eight coming into the Whitney, having most recently put GII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. wins back to back.

“He ran his race. No excuse, really,” said his trainer Brendan Walsh. “I think the best horse won on the day. [Jockey] Jose [Ortiz] said he got to a point where he thought he was going to get him, but [Knicks Go] didn't stop and didn't come back to him. But he ran well. Second is no disgrace. We're always proud of this horse and there will be other days.”

Silver State had won six in a row coming into Saturday, including the GII Oaklawn H. two back going this distance.

“I had the best trip,” said that one's rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. “The winner was much the best. We were fortunate to be third; my horse ran his race. [Trainer] Steve [Asmussen] is happy, the owner is happy, and I'm happy, and that is the most important thing.”

Pedigree Notes:

Knicks Go stands alone as the only Grade I winner to date for Paynter, who has four graded winners among his 18 black-type winners. The breeding of Knicks Go has been well-documented, with his dam's last two matings being significantly upgraded: Kosmo's Buddy has a yearling filly by Justify and a filly by Ghostzapper of this year. Ghostzapper, like Paynter, is a son of Awesome Again.

Knicks Go, the fifth Maryland-bred generation of his family, is one of 10 stakes winners out of daughters of the Danzig sire Outflanker. The Moore family's Green Mount Farm claimed the two-time stakes winner Kosmo's Buddy for $40,000 in her penultimate career start at Monmouth in 2010. She RNA'd for $195,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.

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Equibase Analysis: By My Standards Poised To Run Down Knicks Go

The number seven is rampant in the 2021 edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, as each of the five entrants possesses seven career victories. Combined, the field has won 35 of 70 races for more than $12 million career earnings. Leading the group is Knicks Go, who has made a career of taking the lead at the start and running his competitors off their feet while coasting home in front in the final eighth of a mile. Using his early speed, Knicks Go has won five of his last six North American starts, most recently the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at the distance of the Whitney.

Next in accomplishments is the filly Swiss Skydiver, winner of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes against males last fall and winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile earlier this year. Maxfield has only been defeated one time in eight career starts and enters the Whitney off strong victories in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes and in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, also at the distance of this race. Silver State has also won two graded stakes in a row starting with the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April at this nine-furlong trip, followed up by a win in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June. Last but certainly not least in this strong quintet is By My Standards¸ runner-up in the 2020 Whitney and winner of the Oaklawn Mile Stakes in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap.

Owing to the heavy favoritism Knicks Go will receive from bettors, I'm going to opt for By My Standards to post the upset in this year's Whitney Stakes. Winner of the 2019 Louisiana Derby and well-regarded in the Kentucky Derby that year, By My Standards had little chance in the Derby after getting squeezed back at the start and losing position. Sitting out the balance of 2019, By My Standards returned as a 4-year-old last year and won three races in a row including both the New Orleans Classic Stakes and Oaklawn Handicap before a big runner-up effort behind Tom's d'Etat in the 2020 Stephen Foster Stakes. Next came a career best effort with a 113 Equibase Speed Figure when second behind Improbable in the 2020 Whitney. He ran poorly last fall in two races but just as he did to start 2020, By My Standards started 2021 with a bang, first winning the Oaklawn Mile in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) in June. Although second in the Met Mile, By My Standards may have been best as he brushed the gate at the start, was soundly bumped back to last of six and was wide on the turn. Nevertheless, By My Standards rallied and was beaten just one length at the finish by Silver State. Now having finished first or second in five of six career starts at this mile and one-eighth distance, with a clean break By My Standards can post the upset win in this year's Whitney by running as well as he did in last year's edition of the race.

That being said, By My Standards must run down Knicks Go in the stretch to win. There's a saying in racing that “speed is the ultimate bias,” and with Knicks Go that is a fact. Brilliant as a 2-year-old when winning the Breeders' Futurity in the fall of 2019, Knicks Go went off form but got his brilliant speed back after moving to the barn of Brad Cox over the winter of 2020. Reeling off three wins in a row including the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall, Knicks Go won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational this past January with a strong 115 figure just one point shy of the career best 116 figure earned three months earlier. Following uncharacteristically poor fourth-place finishes in the Saudi Cup and Metropolitan Mile, Knicks Go showed all his speed, and talent, winning the Cornhusker Handicap last month at the distance of the Whitney and could prove impossible to catch once again.

Maxfield has been nearly perfect in his career, winning seven of eight races. His only loss came when trying 1 1/4 miles in the Santa Anita Handicap in March, perhaps just a bit farther than he wants to run. In his only try at the nine-furlong distance of the Whitney¸ Maxfield easily won the Stephen Foster Stakes in his most recent start near the end of June, earning a 107 figure. Perhaps he didn't have to run any faster, because two months earlier when winning the Alysheba Stakes, Maxfield earned a career-best 115 figure which stands up as nearly the same as the best figures of the top contenders in this field. It must also be noted that jockey Jose Ortiz is a perfect five-for-five when riding Maxfield, compared to four-for-five for Joel Rosario (Knicks Go) and seven-for-14 for Gabriel Saez (By My Standards).

In terms of probability, both Silver State and the filly Swiss Skydiver can't be ruled out. Silver State earned a 113 figure winning the Oaklawn Handicap in April at the distance of the Whitney before a game victory in the Metropolitan Handicap, while Swiss Skydiver already proved capable of beating males in last year's Preakness (111 figure) and won the Beholder Mile in March off a layoff similar to the one she's coming off today. Notably, North American leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides Swiss Skydiver for the first time and the jockey is in a pitched battle with his brother Jose for the coveted Saratoga riding title, with the brothers having won 24 races each through Wednesday and one behind leading jockey Luis Saez.

Win Contenders, in preference order:
By My Standards
Knicks Go
Maxfield

Whitney Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Saratoga
Saturday, August 7 – Post Time 5:48 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth
4-Year-Olds and Upward
Purse: $1 Million

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase

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Victory In ‘Win and You’re In’ Whitney Would Give Silver State Breeders’ Cup Options

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's Silver State has thrived since returning from a seven-month hiatus in October, demonstrating class and determination with gradual steps up the ladder from allowance winner to Grade 1 winner.

On Saturday, the talented Hard Spun bay will face off against some of the best older horses in the handicap division in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga race course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Silver State's hot streak commenced at allowance level, when successfully notching his conditions at Keeneland and Churchill Downs last fall. He brought his winning form to Arkansas with a trio of stakes victories at Oaklawn Park.

After a hard-fought outside stretch run in the Jan. 23 Fifth Season, he fended off graded stakes winning veteran Rated R Superstar to capture the Essex on March 13.

Silver State made the grade next out in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 17, where he was little further off the pace than usual, racing along the rail and taking some kickback down the backstretch. Approaching upper stretch, he was tipped out several paths wide and took command inside the eighth pole to win a by a half-length.

Silver State upped his win streak to six with a one-length score in the Grade 1 Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day June 5, where he cut back to one turn and defeated fellow Whitney-aspirants By My Standards and Knicks Go.

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Despite the high hopes, things did not always come easy for Silver State. Following solid placings in the Grade 3 Lecomte [2nd] and Grade 2 Risen Star [3rd] at Fair Grounds in early 2020, he was put to the sidelines following a distant seventh in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at the New Orleans oval.

“Early in his 3-year-old year he behaved like he'd be a really good horse. Hence, why he ran in the Derby prep series in New Orleans,” said Winchell Thoroughbreds racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske. “He probably just needed to grow up a little bit and fill out. Mentally, he's always been fine. Silver State never had any issues. He's always been a solid horse. When we brought him back in the fall, he was a bigger, stronger version of himself.”

The Whitney is a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” event, offering an automatic entry into the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic on November 6 at Del Mar. With a victory in the Met Mile under his belt, the option of pursuing the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile remains under consideration.

“He's kind of standing in the median of the interstate at the moment,” Fiske said. “We haven't really explored a mile and quarter but we're going to run him on Saturday. It's a 'Win And You're In for the Classic,' so it would be nice to have.”

Asmussen and Winchell previously joined forces to capture the 2017 Whitney with Gun Runner. The subsequent Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year experienced an unusual addition of weight when pacesetting longshot Cautious Giant sprung a horseshoe high into the air, eventually getting entangled in Gun Runner's tail.

“I even suggested to Steve we tie a horseshoe to Silver State's tail and see if that helps,” Fiske quipped. “For Gun Runner's Whitney, we just flew up for the day. We went to the races, went out for a celebratory dinner and then flew home. I guess that made the day more memorable. The horseshoe in the tail and then Gun Runner being Gun Runner made for a big day.”

In 2017, all eyes were on Gun Runner, who went into the Whitney gate as the 3-5 favorite. Silver State, made 6-1 on the morning line, is a part of a more evenly-matched field which includes Grade 1-winner Maxfield and 2020 Preakness-winning filly Swiss Skydiver in addition to 6-5 morning-line favorite Knicks Go and By My Standards.

“You're going to have to really earn this one. It's a small but quality field,” Fiske said.

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