Plans for Star of Whitney following her retirement in January have been finalized.  Our Bernstein mare will leave Arizona this weekend, vanning to Margaux Farm in Kentucky where she will be prepped for mating with the popular Claiborne stallion Arch.  The ultra-consistent and talented Star of Whitney will close out her racing career with truly impressive numbers, winning twelve of her thirty four lifetime races, along with five second and four third place finishes. She finishes with career earnings of $267,254. Star of Whitney was purchased by Honor Roll Racing following her two-year old campaign.  With Honor Roll Racing partners as owners, Whitney won 10 of 24 starts and better than $240,000.

Whitney started in Kentucky as a two-year old for owner/breeder Carl Cox and trainer Angel Montano.  She began her career with an eighth place finish at Churchill Downs in a five furlong sprint on the dirt and a fifth place finish sprinting five eighths on the dirt at Ellis Park.  In her third start, a $30,000 maiden claimer, her connections stretched Whitney out to seven furlongs and added blinkers.  Whitney responded by romping home to a better than seven length victory.  Whitney was claimed from that race by Tom Amoss for Maggi Moss.  Whitney would go on to win a $25,000 claimer for Amoss two races later before being claimed once again.  Whitney was claimed one more time at the close of her two-year old year before she was purchased by Honor Roll Racing.

Whitney did not start for Team Honor Roll as a three-year old due to several minor problems that showed up each time she was being readied to run.  It felt like she may never start for us, but she eventually did and any regrets were quickly erased.  It was February of her four year-old year before we were able to get her to the track and March before we could test our theory that our mare would be much better on the grass and at two turns than she was sprinting on the dirt.  Following a prep sprinting on the Turf Paradise dirt in February of Whitney's four-year old year, we got our chance to run Whitney on the turf in March and she did not disappoint, romping to better than a five length win in a first level allowance race that she could have won by better than 10 lengths.  She didn't take a deep breathe.  The rest is history.  Beginning with that romp on the grass, Whitney started 22 times on the turf, winning 10 of those races and placing in five more.  Of those 10 wins, six were stakes wins.  Whitney raced on the grass at Arlington Park, Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, and Turf Paradise, but it will be because of her phenomenal success at Turf Paradise that she will be remembered.  Under masterful guidance by trainer Dennis Sowers, our Kentucky-bred mare was only off the board twice in sixteen grass starts at her Phoenix home away from home. It was Whitney's eighth grass start at Turf Paradise before another horse crossed the line in front of her.  She owned that course.  She was also stakes placed multiple times running long on the dirt at Turf Paradise.  Star of Whitney earned the Older Mare of the Year award in 2007/2008 and became an absolute crowd favorite because of her patented, explosive come from behind running style that often saw her moving from five lengths behind to three lengths in front in the blink of an eye as the field turned for home.

It was a cloudy January morning in Phoenix about one month ago when we decided it was time to reward Whitney with some time in the field and a chance to have some babies that might well be better than she.  I walked to her stall after Dennis, myself, and a couple of her owners had met and made the decision.  She was unusually quiet, which was one of the reasons we had decided to retire her.  She was a fireball in her prime and she seemed to be losing a bit of her zest for competing.  I gave her a handful of peppermints and told her she was done and we were all very proud of her.  It was sad knowing we would never again be trading high fives on our way to meet her at the winner's circle, but nice knowing she was going on to a second career where we know she'll be highly successful.