White Abarrio, who is 0-for-2 for trainer Rick Dutrow this year after finishing fifth in Saturday’s Grade 1 Met Mile, is returning to Saffie Joseph Jr.’s stable.
Daily Racing Form reported the switch, with co-owner Mark Cornett saying the time seemed right after two losses this year. His next start will be in the John Nerud Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct on July 2, according to the report.
Joseph trained White Abarrio for 11 starts through March 2023, with his best performance a win in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in 2022 on his way to a 16th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. That was the start of a six-race losing streak before he won an optional-claiming allowance at Gulfstream in March 2023.
Then the son of Race Day was pointed to the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard, but Joseph was suspended by Churchill Downs Inc. after the unexplained deaths of two horses in his care at the Louisville, Ky., track.
White Abarrio’s owners then wanted White Abarrio to run in the Met Mile, but Joseph had reached an agreement with New York Racing Association not to run at its tracks while the deaths were under investigation. So they transferred him to Dutrow, and he finished third in the Met Mile.
After that, White Abarrio scored a 6 1/4-length victory in the Whitney (G1) and capped his year by winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
He began his 2024 campaign with a 10th-place showing in the Saudi Cup (G1) before returning in the Met Mile.