Moquett said Whitmore was sent to Rebecca Maker’s equine rehabilitation and breaking facility in Kentucky following the Forego. Swift Ruler, a local star during the 1960s, is the only other horse in Oaklawn history with seven career stakes victories. Whitmore also won Oaklawn’s signature race for older sprinters, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3), a record three times (2017, 20). Much of Whitmore’s best work came at Oaklawn, where he compiled a gaudy 9-6-1 record from 16 starts and earned $1,752,600. A chestnut son of Pleasantly Perfect, Whitmore bankrolled $4,502,350 – 88 th in North American history through Tuesday – after winning 15 of 43 starts. Whitmore was retired after suffering a leg injury during a fifth-place finish in the $600,000 Forego Stakes (G1) Aug. 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. 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. “That’s our goal, Doesn’t mean we’re going to do it. “Our ultimate goal, right now, the short-term goal, is have him lead the post parade for the Whitmore,” Moquett said Tuesday morning. Whitmore has returned to Arkansas, but instead of preparing for the Hot Springs, a race he won in 2017, 2018, 20, 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). 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. Contact: Jennifer Hoyt, or (501) 363-4305Ĭhampion Whitmore Returns to Hot Springs to Begin Second Career

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