Tom's d'Etat Made 6-5 Morning-Line Favorite for Whitney

Trainer Al Stall Jr. still has vivid memories of following this path before. Not even the passage of 10 years can change that.

Back in 2010, Stall trained Blame , who came into the Whitney Handicap (G1) off four consecutive wins, capped by a victory in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs. Following a narrow victory over favored Quality Road  at the summer oasis of Saratoga Race Course, Blame not only had a fifth straight win but was on his way to registering one of the sport's great upsets when he defeated the previously unbeaten Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

These days, Stall is quite content to put thoughts about the Breeders' Cup on hold until the fall, but he'll be delighted if his current holder of a four-race win streak can adhere to a familiar plan and use a recent victory in the June 27 Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) as a springboard to success in the Whitney Stakes.

Déjà vu?

Perhaps, but there are understandable reasons why the same races keep popping up in the past performances of Stall's top older horses.

"The races at Churchill Downs and Saratoga are in traditional spots, so I follow the same schedule," Stall said. 

Yet in this instance, it's the races as well as the unusually good results that are driving the comparisons. In G M B Racing's Tom's d'Etat, Stall surely has a horse capable of motoring through Saratoga as successfully as Blame did a decade ago. The 7-year-old son of Smart Strike headlines an outstanding field of five millionaires in the $750,000 Whitney Stakes Aug. 1 at the Spa.

"He finished last year great and had a great winter. His two comeback races (in 2020) were everything we could ask for. He's on schedule for the Whitney," Stall said about a Breeders' Cup Challenge stakes that awards the winner a free spot in the Nov. 7 Classic at Keeneland.

The stellar field also includes multiple grade 1 winners Code of Honor and Improbable, yet even his rivals understand why Tom's d'Etat was pegged as a 6-5 morning-line favorite at the July 29 post position draw for the 93rd edition of the 1 1/8-mile Whitney.

"Al Stall's horse sure has been impressive," said Shug McGaughey, who trains Code of Honor.

Impressive is at least one of the words that fits nicely around a 4 1/4-length score in the Stephen Foster, where Tom's d'Etat covered the nine furlongs in 1:47.30 and missed a 21-year-old track record by :02. That dazzler came on the heels of a victory in his 2020 debut by a little less than a length in the Oaklawn Mile Stakes. Prior to that, Tom's d'Etat served notice that he was ready to join the sport's elite runners by closing 2019 with wins in the Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) and the Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2).

"His last race was a knockout race," Stall said about the winner of 11 of 18 starts who will break from post 5 with jockey Joel Rosario. "He caught everyone off guard. We thought he would run well and that he could win, but coming close to the track record and running the way he did off one race in 211 days? That knocked our socks off."

Just last year, Stall, who is based in Kentucky during the early days of summer, followed a similar routine, sending out Tom's d'Etat for a third-place finish in the Stephen Foster that led to a win in Saratoga's Alydar Stakes and a fourth in the Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) to give the future WinStar Farm stallion a mark of three wins in four Saratoga starts.

"He ran a good race in the Woodward. It just didn't work out for him," Stall said. "They put in a new surface here, and he galloped over it for a good week before we breezed him. He got over it nicely while galloping and looked great on it in the work. I think everything is on target."

Will Farish's Code of Honor, the 5-2 co-second choice, also has an enviable record at the Spa. He's 2-for-2 with the most recent victory coming last year in Saratoga's biggest race, the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1).

"He did well up here as a 2-year-old," McGaughey said, referring to Code of Honor's debut win. "He did well up here as a 3-year-old and seems to be doing well this time based on what we've seen on the training track. I think he likes training here. Everything seems to be good."

Code of Honor comes into the race after closing from eighth to finish third behind winner Vekoma in the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1). The added furlong of the Whitney should help his cause, especially if running in a one-turn mile moves the son of Noble Mission  forward like it did a year ago when he prepped for the Travers by winning the Dwyer Stakes (G3), another mile stakes at Belmont Park.

"It would be nice if it works as well as last year off the mile race. The key thing was making sure the Met Mile didn't take too much out of him. But he seems to have bounced out of it well. I don't know if it moved him forward, but it tightened him up. I didn't have to do a lot with him since then," McGaughey said.

Code of Honor drew post 3 and the services of Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. 

Improbable drew post 2 with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and was also listed at 5-2, putting Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in the relatively unfamiliar position of being an underdog while shipping his horse cross-country.

"That's a tough field, but he belongs with them," Baffert said.

The City Zip 4-year-old, owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International, and SF Racing, enjoyed a breakthrough moment in his previous start when he took the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1) for his first graded stakes win since capturing the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) as a 2-year-old. Improbable broke well, pressed the pace, and then drew clear in the stretch to prevail by 3 1/4 lengths in the 1 1/4-mile stakes, but he has been known to be unruly at the starting gate while traveling outside of California.

"He's trained well, but he has to behave himself in the gate. He's a gentleman in the gate in California. They have him figured out here. In the morning, you could set off a bomb and he wouldn't move. But in the afternoon, he's smart and he looks around," Baffert said. "But he's a good horse, and hopefully we can brag on him after the race."

Allied Racing Stable's By My Standards (post 1, Jose Ortiz) was listed at 9-2 off a runner-up finish behind Tom's d'Etat in the Stephen Foster. The son of Goldencents  trained by Bret Calhoun won his three previous starts in 2020, including the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and the New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2).

Chester and Mary Broman's Mr. Buff rates as the 12-1 outsider with Junior Alvarado from post 4. A homebred 6-year-old Friend Or Foe  gelding, the New York-bred was fifth last time out in the Suburban Stakes (G2) and 10th a year ago in the Clark.

Entries: Whitney S. (G1)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 01, 2020, Race 9

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 5:42 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1By My Standards (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	W. Bret Calhoun	9/2
2	2Improbable (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Bob Baffert	5/2
3	3Code of Honor (KY)	John R. Velazquez	124	Claude R. McGaughey III	5/2
4	4Mr. Buff (NY)	Junior Alvarado	118	John C. Kimmel	12/1
5	5Tom's d'Etat (KY)	Joel Rosario	124	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	6/5