Multiple G1 Winner White Abarrio Breezes Thursday for $3M Pegasus

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Antonio Pagnano’s multiple Grade 1 winner White Abarrio breezed Thursday morning at Gulfstream Park ahead of his next scheduled start in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 25.

With regular exercise rider Vicente Gudiel aboard, White Abarrio went four furlongs in 47.81 seconds over the main track, the fastest of 23 horses at the distance. It was the first work for 5-year-old earner of more than $5.2 million since his runner-up finish in the Mr. Prospector (G3) Dec. 28.

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“We were kind of looking for a steady kind of half with a long gallop out, and it kind of went beyond our expectations. It went really, really well. He worked super with an even longer gallop out than we wanted, but he did it the right way,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “We’re very pleased with where he’s at. If he can hopefully stay this kind of form into the Pegasus, he’ll be very tough.”

White Abarrio has won six of eight lifetime starts at Gulfstream including the Holy Bull (G3) and Florida Derby (G1) in 2022. He spent the summer and fall of 2023 with trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., winning the Whitney (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), returning to Joseph after running fifth in the Met Mile (G1) last June.

Making his first start in 168 days, White Abarrio romped by 10 ¼ lengths in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Nov. 22 at Gulfstream to set him up for the Mr. Prospector. Also at seven furlongs, he got off slowly and raced far back before making a dramatic late run to come up 1 ¼ lengths short of multiple graded-stakes winner Mufasa.

“Obviously you always want to win, but you try to look for the positives in every situation. We felt like we ran a winning race without winning. He got a lot of education as far as taking dirt and it was a gallant effort,” Joseph said. “He’s in good order right now. We need it to continue like this and we feel like we’re bringing a horse in with a very good chance.”

White Abarrio will put in his final work next week for the Pegasus.

“We worked today so it gives us options,” he said. “Now we can work next week anywhere between Thursday and Sunday. We’ll kind of decide next week when we’re going to do it.”

Joseph’s other Pegasus candidate, Daniel Alonso’s multi-millionaire Skippylongstocking, is scheduled to put in his penultimate work Friday morning. Following his sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 2, he has breezed four times since mid-December at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.