SARATOGA SPRINGS – Trainer Bobby Frankel’s star 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro, 2-for-2 this year and 2-for-2 last summer at the Old Spa, will break from post 5 as the 4-5 morning-line favorite in tomorrow’s Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at a mile-and-an-eighth. Jerry Bailey will be aboard packing highweight of 123 pounds in the meet’s premier race for older horses.
Surprisingly, a field that looked as if it would be limited to three or four horses just days ago drew seven runners willing to tackle Medaglia d’Oro. They include last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Volponi, second in all three starts this year; Harlan’s Holiday; Saarland; and mud-loving Evening Attire, entered because of a weather forecast that calls for heavy rain all weekend.
Although Frankel hopes to avoid a drying-out track – “sloppy is OK,” he said – Medaglia d’Oro will be hard to beat under any conditions. Last year the son of El Prado went gate-to-wire taking the Jim Dandy, then came back to win the Travers in the slop from just off the pace.
After finishing second as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Arlington Park over the type of cuppy surface Frankel fears, Medaglia d’Oro took a winter vacation, returning in February to win the Strub at Santa Anita, leading all the way. He followed that with a front-running score in the Oaklawn Handicap in April.
Soon after, Medaglia d’Oro suffered a minor foot injury that kept him sidelined through the spring and early summer, but he’s been working bullets in the morning for his return.
“I think I’ve got him right,” Frankel said.
Whitney Field
Post Horse Jockey Odds
1. Puzzlement Jorge Chavez 15-1
2. Saarland John Velazquez 12-1
3. Northern Rock Rich Migliore 15-1
4. Evening Attire Mark Guidry 10-1
5. Medaglia d’Oro Jerry Bailey 4-5
6. Harlan’s Holiday Pat Day 5-1
7. Volponi Jose Santos 4-1
8. Proud Citizen Edgar Prado 15-1
