St. Lewis Faces Long Odds Once Again in Whitney Stakes

Owner/trainer Uriah St. Lewis has a longshot in the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1), which might be one of the least startling revelations of the 2019 racing season.

St. Lewis actually has a reputation for facing long odds in major races and pulling a rather surprising finish out of his hat.

The best example of that was provided by his $1.4 million earner Discreet Lover, who won last year's prestigious Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at 45-1 odds for St. Lewis, beating Godolphin Stable's Thunder Snow, who won the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) earlier in the year.

That victory by Discreet Lover came after the then-5-year-old horse was third for his Trinidad-born owner/trainer in the Whitney Stakes at 38-1, third in the Suburban Stakes (G2) at 41-1, and fourth in the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at 79-1. Though when Discreet Lover went off at 12-1 in the Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), he finished 12th.

Go figure.

Now St. Lewis is back at Saratoga Race Course for the Aug. 3 Whitney with Forewarned, a 4-year-old son of Flat Out . And, be forewarned, he'll be a longshot.

Listed at 30-1 in the morning line, that price might be a tad low by post time as the Whitney, a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), marks the graded stakes debut for the Ohio-bred.

He is coming off a second-place finish in an allowance optional claimer at Parx Racing July 1 and seems overmatched in a stellar field of eight that includes Thunder Snow, who is now a two-time winner of the Dubai World Cup with earnings of $16,511,476; grade 1 winners McKinzie, Vino Rosso and Yoshida; grade 2 winners Preservationist and Imperative; and Monongahela, who took the Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) in his last start.

Needless to say, St. Lewis is ready to once again play David in a field of Goliaths.

"I think this horse is better than Discreet Lover," St. Lewis said. "Discreet Lover is a nice horse, but this horse likes to win. He should have won his last race, but the horse kept boxing him. He trains better than Discreet Lover. He breezes like a champion. He trains fantastic. I am 100% confident. I think if we get a good ride and stay off their flanks, we'll run over them."

While Forewarned is taking a giant-sized step forward in class, St. Lewis believes his horse can work out a good trip from post 2 and take advantage if the early fractions get out of hand.

"The race should set up good. They got speed," St. Lewis said. "McKinzie is not going to let Preservationist go because if he lets that horse go, the race is finished. I hope we sit in the catbird seat and my jockey (John Bisono) just makes the right call. I think he has a good shot of finishing first, second, or third. I will be disappointed if he finishes further back than that. If I didn't think he was that good, I wouldn't come."

Whether Forewarned can follow in Discreet Lover's hoofprints in the Spa's premier dirt race for older horses remains to be seen. Yet considering how St. Lewis bought him for $40,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed and Horses of Racing Age Sale from the consignment of Bill Reightler, agent for Preston Stables, and has already earned $74,420 in 2019 with two wins in five starts, he's ahead of the curve.

Whether Forewarned can throw a curve at his rivals in the Whitney and resurrect thoughts of Discreet Lover, that's a different story. It seems highly unlikely, but with St. Lewis calling the shots, you never know.

There just might be one more rock left in his slingshot.