Magnitude leads highly anticipated summer showdown in G1 Whitney

In what is certain to be a highlight of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, Group 1 Dubai World Cup-winner Magnitude is among a star-studded group of contenders for this year’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney, a nine-furlong route for 3-year-olds and up that awards a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“He’s had a tremendous year,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said of his stable star Magnitude. “Three very significant races this year. With the company he’s kept, we couldn’t be prouder of him and we expect more of the same from him.”

The Whitney [Race 12] highlights a stacked 14-race card that includes three additional Grade 1 events in the $750,000 Fourstardave [Race 10] – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile – the $750,000 Saratoga Derby presented by Qatar Racing [Race 11] and the $500,000 Test presented by Ticketmaster [Race 9]. First post is 11:45 a.m.

The Whitney will be broadcast to a national audience on FOX as part of a two-hour edition of FOX Saratoga Saturday, which will begin at 5 p.m.

While Magnitude brings impeccable form to the Whitney, he by no means towers over the field of eight – seven of them millionaires – that includes reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty, 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic and Whitney victor White Abarrio, Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Nitrogen, and Grade 1-winners Baeza and Antiquarian. Add Grade 2 winners Tiztastic and Forged Steel to the mix and this year’s Whitney is sure to rank amongst the most impressive group of horses to contest the prestigious dirt route in recent memory.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Asmussen teamed up to win the 2017 Whitney with subsequent Hall of Famer Gun Runner, and have a chance to do it again with Magnitude [post 1, Jose Ortiz], a 4-year-old son of Not This Time. The talented bay rides a four-race win streak into the Whitney, where he will race at Saratoga for the first time since finishing a pacesetting third to Sovereignty – winner of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets – in last year’s Grade 1 DraftKings Travers.

“He’s had a huge year, trained like it this spring, coming into the year,” Asmussen said, “We are obviously wanting more of the same as far as results go.”

The Travers – which he entered from a pair of stakes wins by more than nine lengths in the Grade 2 Risen Star in February and the Listed Iowa Derby in July – was the only time Magnitude was soundly beaten in his last eight starts. He followed that effort with a second to Baeza in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby in September, but broke through against elders with a determined half-length win over 2025 Dubai World Cup victor Hit Show in the Grade 2 Clark in November at Churchill Downs.

The colt returned with no signs of rust as a 4-year-old with a 3 3/4-length trouncing of the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap in February at Oaklawn Park. With triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in five of his six starts leading up to the Dubai World Cup, Magnitude was well-suited for a big effort under the lights of Meydan Racecourse.

Under regular pilot Jose Ortiz, Magnitude made the lead early and never looked back, posting an emphatic victory on the international stage without ever being significantly challenged. Global superstar Forever Young chased him the whole way around and gave his best effort in the final three-sixteenths, but the gap between them only waned slightly as Magnitude scored by one length in a final time of 2:04.38 for the race run at about 10 furlongs.

The streak continued three months later in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 27 at Churchill, where another stacked field awaited Magnitude. He faced a rematch with both Sovereignty and Baeza, and a new challenge from White Abarrio. From the gate to the wire, all eyes were on Magnitude as he led each step of the way over the sloppy and sealed track en route to the 1 1/4-length win over the slow-starting Baeza, earning a 114 Beyer in victory.

“His last two wins were right up there with anything we’ve ever done,” said Asmussen, the winningest trainer in North American history. “The Dubai World Cup and the Stephen Foster with the previous year’s Derby winner in it. Those were very exciting races. I feel extremely proud of what he’s gotten done, but we are looking to add to it.”