The Whitney (Grade 1) (BC)- $1,000.00 Purse
SAR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
August 8, 2026

Well, we didn’t see this one coming. In one of the biggest races of the SAR Meet, the Grade 1 Whitney, it would be 16/1 longshot Salah bringing the best version of himself to the track and punching his ticket to the BC Classic in a little under three months. While no one would have gone so far to say that Salah did not have a chance, the inconsistent nature of the colt in a field like this made him hard to pick over the other big names. He was not one of our picks, and only 3.4% of the people selected him in the pick ‘em. That’s probably his trainer Royalty Stables and one other person. He had a nice work at ELP about three weeks ago to give the trainer hope, and now Salah will be one of the horses heading to the gate for the BC Classic just as long as his trainer wants him there. For Royalty Stables, as well as jockey T Gaffalione, this is their first Whitney victory. Congratulations to the connections! The time of the win was 1:47.41, which is towards the middle of past winning times. We had a major scratch in this race, as our pick to win, Diametric, did not take part. Here’s a look at the ones who did!

(½ Mile- :46.39)- Simmer Down Stable’s Mr Monarch surges to the race lead and looks to open up on the rest of the field. If it wasn’t for second place Criminal Law, who’s out of D J C Racing Stables, he may have had about a four length lead at half a mile. Instead, Criminal Law will sit a length and a half off the lead, with gap to the rest of the field behind him. They’re four wide across the track for the third spot, and we’ll go from outside to inside here since that represents the running order of them at this stage: Fawkes (Delta Farms), Edward The Good (Mb Stables), Charlie Jace (Mb Stables), and The Stone Pony (Maletto). Running right behind them, we have our eventual winner from Royalty Stables, Salah, running side by side with Special Event (Nakamura Stables) and they are officially scored as being five lengths out, but it seems like more. Further back, we have Eight West Party (TwinTowersRacing), who will hope to close better than his stablemate Term Limits did in the SAR Derby.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.43)- There’s no simmering down for the race leader, as Mr Monarch continues to hold a lead of around two lengths over second place Criminal Law. That one is himself a langth and a half ahead of that same group of four that had been running behind him previously. In a nutshell, there is not much change that went on over this portion with how the field runs. The main horse to keep an eye on here was Special Event, who looked to go to the fifth lane midway into the turn, in order to pass that foursome. Salah, who had been running with him, holds his ground for now and wait to see how things set up a little later.

(Top of the Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- We hit the top of the stretch, and there are several horses now with their sights set on Mr Monarch. That one still leads for now, but his advantage has been shrinking. Criminal Law was not the one that making a move on him, as he stayed on the rail to be passed by three of the four horses that had been right behind him. The Mb Stables pair of Charlie Jace and Edward The Good were going to get there first, and The Stone Party was running strong right with them. The one horse of the foursome that could not keep up? Believe it or not, that’s Fawkes, who greatly disappoints today. Special Event is on the extreme outside, and trip gets the best of him right here. Salah is still looking for his lane, and perhaps there is one setting up directly in front of him. Eight West Party is getting closer as well, but has a ton of work to do.

(Finish- 1:47.41)- Early in the stretch, Charlie Jace and The Stone Pony seemed to be in the best shape to get by Mr Monarch and to settle the race between themselves, and if not them, then it would be Edward The Good. But as those two began to battle one another, a lane opened up for Salah to take advantage of. There would be enough time left, but it would still take a massive run for him to get by all of the rivals that were in front of him as he was still only in the sixth position. In the final furlong, Salah would respond, and would run very close to The Stone Pony as that one tried to light up the board even more than Salah would. Charlie Jace was looking good, and what about Mr Monarch? Would he hang on? The final strides saw the two longshots look the best, and at the wire at photo would be needed between the two of him. In the end, it would be Salah grabbing the win by a head on The Stone Pony, who beat third place Charlie Jace by the same margin. Edward The Good catches Mr Monarch in the final stride for fourth, keeping the pacesetter from even earning a penny for his efforts. The rest of the order will read Special Event, Eight West Party, Criminal Law, and “Maybe the Foster wasn’t a fluke”, Fawkes.

About The Winner- Salah, trained by Royalty Stables and ridden to victory by T Gaffalione, is a four year old colt by Gray Sunset and is out of Zlatan. He was bred by Royalty Stables as a yearling in California, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in 20 starts, his third stake win and second graded win. His career earnings are now $1,368.18.

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES