Eight millionaires among star-studded cast for G1 Whitney
At 0h02, on August 1, 2025 • By Saratoga Race Course
A star-studded cast featuring Champions Fierceness and Sierra Leone and a sextet of fellow millionaires led by four-time Grade 1 winner White Abarrio are set to line up for the 98th running of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga Race Course.
The 1 1/8-mile Whitney for 4-year-olds and up, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic November 1 at Del Mar, serves as the headliner on a 13-race program that includes five graded-stakes worth $3.2 million in purses.
Derrick Smith, Repole Stable, Michael B. Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier’s Fierceness, the Champion 2-Year-Old Colt of 2023, had his perfect record over Saratoga’s main track ended in the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap June 7 as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Prior to that he had won three times at the Spa, highlighted by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 DraftKings Travers last summer.
Fierceness encountered some early trouble in the Met Mile, contested out of the Wilson Chute, and pressed the pace but had to settle for second as the favorite behind Raging Torrent, who was retired in July with a leg injury.
“He was second-best on the day,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The way it unfolded he had a bit of a rough start from the inside draw. We had some concerns about the Wilson Chute to begin with but, in all fairness, Raging Torrent ran a good race. We just regroup and get back around two turns and look forward to running him the way he’s been training.”
Second to Sierra Leone in the Breeders’ Cup Classic as well as voting for 2024 Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, Fierceness won the Grade 2 Alysheba May 2 in track-record fashion at Churchill Downs in his only other start this year. Hall of Famer John Velazquez is named to ride Fierceness [124 pounds] from post 9 in the field of 10.
“He’s been training great like he always does and, so far, everything has gone according to plan,” Pletcher said. “He’s just super talented, and when he’s able to put together his ‘A’ race, he’s very, very good.”
Pletcher is a four-time winner of the Whitney, finding previous success with Left Bank [2002], Lawyer Ron [2007], Cross Traffic [2013] and Life Is Good [2022].
