Saturday Race Selection: Grade 1 Whitney Stakes

By Rick Francis —-

Race 9), Grade 1 Whitney Stakes 1&1/8th Miles Post Time 5:46 EDT

1) Tapwrit (Pletcher/Velazquez); 2017’s Belmont Stakes winner makes his third start of the year and really has yet to fire, most notably last out in the G2 Suburban where he was sent off as the race favorite and never threatened; that trend continues.

2) Backyard Heaven (Brown/Castellano); after winning three straight including the G2 Alysheba, this Tizway colt took a bit of a step backwards losing by ten lengths as the race fave in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster. Trainer Chad Brown with a next out beaten favorite hits at 30 percent; win threat.

3) Dalmore (Hess/Santana); when given every chance, this 5-year-old couldn’t close the gap in the G2 Cornhusker; don’t think he gets that close here.

4) Mind Your Biscuits (Summers/Rosario); there’s only one question to be asked of this multi-millionaire World Class sprinter, can he go nine furlongs? I know he’ll run as fast and as far as he can, and to whomever is leading at the sixteenth pole better know where he’s at.

5) Discreet Lover (St.Lewis/Franco); finished up a distant third in the Suburban but was never going to catch winner; connections will take a distant third today.

6) Diversify (Violette/Ortiz, I); dominated the Suburban, his second straight strong effort. Prior to that runaway victory, 5-year-old gelding by Bellamy Road posted a very fast bullet work, he posted a similar very fast bullet work here last week.

7) Good Samaritan (Mott/Ortiz, J); Harlan’s Holiday colt returns his favorite distance where he’s won twice and finished second from three starts; solid Grade 1 player is an exotics factor.

8) McCraken (Wilkes/Hernandez); once a Derby trail fave and a nose runner-up in last years Haskell, Ghostzapper colt is now trying to find his place. There’s a couple in here that exit disappointing tries, none worse than him finishing third in the G3 Cornhusker as the race favorite.

Selections: 6, 2, 4, 7