Cross Traffic Dazzles in Whitney

By Tom Pedulla, America’s Best Racing
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Add Cross Traffic to the list of the nation’s top handicap horses. The only issue is where he belongs among the elite.
Some may argue that he deserves to be rated at, or near, the top after he turned only his fifth career start into an impressive front-running victory in the $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
“I think it puts him right at the top. The Whitney is one of the most prestigious handicap races in the country,” said victorious trainer Todd Pletcher after his blossoming 4-year-old withstood Successful Dan’s late charge by three-quarters of a length before a crowd of 33,148 spectators. Mucho Macho Man ran third.
Bob Baffert, who conditions Game On Dude, might well disagree with Pletcher’s willingness to vault lightly raced Cross Traffic ahead of his more proven West Coast star. Ian Wilkes, who trains defending Whitney and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Fort Larned, is not about to praise any older horse too lavishly at this stage.
“You run this race again, you will get a different winner,” Wilkes said after Fort Larned finished a disappointing fifth in the field of eight. “It’s a strong handicap division.”
Wilkes also was careful to give Cross Traffic his due. “To win a Grade 1 in your fifth start, that’s a good horse,” he said.
The only issue is how good Cross Traffic is now and how good he can be by the time the Breeders’ Cup Classic is run at Santa Anita Park. According to Pletcher, assorted minor injuries kept the son of Unbridled’s Song from making the races at two or three. The gray or roan colt finally debuted on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., and showed his ability in winning by 1 3/4 lengths.
After a 7 ½-length romp in an allowance race at Gulfstream, adversity came in the form of consecutive defeats. The Kentucky-bred missed by a head in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park in New York at the end of April. It got worse from there. He led almost every stride before being overtaken by Sahara Sky by a nose in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on May 27.
Pletcher described the Metropolitan outcome as one of the most anguishing defeats of his brilliant career. He described the photo as being “as close as it can get” and said of the pulsating finish, “Sahara Sky was so far in the middle of the track, he didn’t really have a chance to see him.”
The start of the 1 1/8-mile Whitney proved to be critical to Cross Traffic’s redemption and Fort Larned’s downfall.
Wilkes said of Fort Larned’s early strides for jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., “He just broke a little tardily and that changed our whole plan.”
Cross Traffic, meanwhile, broke as sharply as his rider, John Velazquez, hoped he would.
“He broke well from the gate and that was our plan, break well, get a nice run into the first turn and see where we land,” Velazquez said. “We landed on the lead in a nice pace, so it was perfect.”
“The first quarter was the most important one. We didn’t have to chase [Fort Larned] to be there. After that, we started picking it up every eighth of a mile, but it was a comfortable pace.”
Cross Traffic clicked off the opening quarter of a mile in :24.12 and the opening half-mile in :47.28. He reached three-quarters of a mile in a solid 1:10.24 en route to a final time of 1:47.89.
Successful Dan, a seemingly star-crossed 7-year-old gelding whose career has been beset by injuries, encountered more woes before the Whitney when he fell in the paddock.
“It’s unfortunate that happened, but I don’t think that took anything away from him,” said trainer Charles LoPresti. “He was really running at the end.”
If the Whitney raised questions, the Woodward Stakes here on Aug. 31 may provide answers. Cross Traffic, Successful Dan and Fort Larned are all under serious consideration for that contest.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
CROSS TRAFFIC PULLS AWAY IN WHITNEY STRETCH

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire