Frank Whiteley Jr.
The Fox of Laurel – Part II.
Joseph Di Rienzi
This is the second of a two part series on the best horses
trained by Frank Whiteley Jr. Known as “The Fox of Laurel” for his furtive
training methods and his affinity to stable his charges at his home base of
Laurel Racecourse away from the glare of the national media. In part I, the
racing careers of the first champions Whiteley trained, Tom Rolfe and Damascus,
were reviewed. In this final part, Whiteley’s association with two of
thoroughbred racing’s legends, Ruffian and Forego, will be examined.
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| Frank Whiteley, Heliodoro Gustines and Martha Gerry with Forego (The Blood-Horse) |
Ruffian began her storied career as spectacular as one could
imagine. Entered somewhat unheralded in a maiden race for two-year-old fillies at
Belmont Park on May 22, 1974, she won by 15 lengths equaling the 5½ furlong track
record. Ruffian was a nearly black daughter of Reviewer out of the mare
Shenanigans by Native Dancer, making her a half-sister to the good racehorse
Icecapade which Frank Whiteley had also trained. Owned and bred by Barbara
Phipps Janney and Stuart Janney Jr.’s Locust Hill Farm, Ruffian was
breathtaking to watch both in motion and in repose. Tall and long, she seemed
an animal set apart from her contemporaries. Season race goers whispered things
about her ability that seemed other-worldly. Whiteley, for his part, tried to
downplay her potential, but his cryptic comments suggested he stood in awe of
her.
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| Ruffian (bloodhorse.com) |
In her second start in the Fashion Stakes, Ruffian again equaled her track record, winning by 6¾ lengths. Moving to Aqueduct for the Astoria Stakes, she won by 9 lengths and just missed its track record for 5½ furlongs by a 1/5 of a second.
Traveling to the Jersey Shore for Monmouth Park’s 6 furlong Sorority
Stakes, Ruffian faced another undefeated filly in Hot N Nasty. Racing on the
lead, Ruffian was challenged by the much smaller Hot N Nasty, and, for a brief
moment in the stretch, the outcome was in doubt. However Ruffian responded to
Jacinto Vasquez’s urging and drew clear to win by 2¼ lengths setting a new
stakes record time.
In the 6 furlong Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, Ruffian ruled
the prohibitive favorite in the four horse field. As her wont, she took the
lead early and drew out at will finishing the race 12¾ lengths in front of the
second place horse. The time, a new stakes record was 3/5 of a second slower
than the track record for the distance. Ruffian did not race again in 1974. In
training she suffered what was determined to be a hairline fracture of a hind
leg. Despite her abbreviated campaign, Ruffian, undefeated in five starts, was
the overwhelming selection for the Eclipse Award for Two-Year-Old Filly
Champion.
Wintering in South Carolina to recover from her injury, she
was sent to New York in the early spring to prepare for the New York Filly
Triple Series. In mid-April, Ruffian made her sophomore debut in a 6 furlong
allowance at Aqueduct winning easily by 4¾ lengths. The daughter of Reviewer
ran as she had in all her other races - brilliantly fast, winning by 4¾
lengths. She next appeared in the 7 furlong Comely Stakes and won by 7¾
lengths. The time was a new stakes record and over a second faster than
four-year-old stakes winner Hatchet Man’s win in an allowance race on the same
card.
In the 1 mile Acorn Stakes at Aqueduct Ruffian’s main
competition appeared to be Sarsar who was trained by David Whiteley, Frank’s
son. But the latter scratched when it was clear Ruffian would run. As usual,
Ruffian made a shambles of the field winning by 8¼ lengths in stakes record
time. Giving testimony to the awe that was attached to Ruffian, the connections
of Sarsar, seeking an easier race, entered her against male horses in the Withers
Stakes which she won by 2 lengths.
The Mother Goose Stakes was next on Ruffian’s dance card,
and she carried her speed and brilliance 9 furlongs to win by 13 lengths in
another stakes record time. Remaining with her own gender, Ruffian next sought
to complete the New York Filly Triple Crown Series in the 1½ mile Coaching Club
American Oaks. The only question was whether she was “too speedy” to manage the
marathon distance of the race. There was also an interesting rival in Equal
Change, who had just won two allowance races by a total of about 25 lengths.
Equal Change’s pedigree, being a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Arts and Letters
from the female family of Triple Crown winner Assault, gave every indication
she would relish the CCA Oaks’ distance. Fears of Ruffian being too rank in the
early running were unfounded as she set a moderate pace. When Equal Change challenged
Ruffian at the ½ mile pole, Jacinto Vasquez let her run a little to keep a safe
distance, and she maintained that margin to win comfortably by 2¾ lengths over
a game Equal Change. Ruffian’s final time in CCA Oaks was slightly faster than
Avatar’s win in the Belmont Stakes two weeks earlier. Having run out of female
competition, there was a groundswell that Ruffian should face the top male
three-year-olds next and proposals were initiated to stage a special race.
Attempts to bring the winners of the three classic races
together to face Ruffian dissolved into a match race at 1¼ mile between the
filly and Kentucky Derby victor Foolish Pleasure at Belmont Park on July 6,
1975. The match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure was a race that never
should have happened. In an effort to boost attendance, the New York Racing
Association persuaded Stuart Janney Jr., co-owner of Ruffian, to race her in
this “exhibition” through his brother-in-law, Ogden Phipps, an influential
member of the NYRA. However, there were plenty of opportunities on the racing
calendar, such as the Travers Stakes and the Marlboro Cup Handicap for Ruffian
to face the best male horses. How Frank Whiteley felt about this “exhibition”
was uncertain, as he kept his characteristically private counsel.
There were also some bad feelings going into the race.
Jacinto Vazquez, who was the regular rider for both Ruffian and Foolish
Pleasure, chose to ride the filly. LeRoy Jolley the latter’s trainer, somewhat
miffed, picked Braulio Baeza as his jockey who had a grudge against Frank
Whiteley Jr. At the start, Ruffian on
the inside, broke at little slow but was rushed up to contest the lead. Baeza,
knowing that almost all match races are won on the front end, rode Foolish
Pleasure very aggressively squeezing his rival toward the rail and pressuring
Ruffian to run faster than she would normally have at this early stage of the
race. It was over in an instant down the backstretch when Ruffian shattered her
right front ankle. The sound was so audible that Baeza on Foolish Pleasure
heard it. The sight of Foolish Pleasure galloping solely to the wire is seared
in the memory of the race. A remark in the winner’s circle by LeRoy Jolley
alluding to thoroughbred racing as a blood sport seemed tasteless and would
stigmatize him.
Efforts to save Ruffian were desperate but heroic. She had
surgery soon after the injury, but regaining consciousness after the procedure,
Ruffian trashed so violently that she had to be euthanized. Her owners, Mr. and
Mrs. Stuart Janney Jr., consented to have Ruffian buried in the infield of
Belmont Park where she rests there still. In over 60 years of being a part of
thoroughbred racing, this tragedy was by far the worst I have witnessed and
certainly cast a pall on the sport. Whiteley, stoic as ever, kept his emotions
to himself, but in a telling gesture, permanently closed Ruffian’s stall door
at his Camden, S. C. training facility, saying, “no other horse was worthy of
entering it.”
The last great horse conditioned by Frank Whiteley Jr. was
different than the others in that he did not develop the horse, but inherited a
champion to train as a six-year-old. Forego in 1976 was already a two time
Horse of the Year when Whiteley took over the training duties as Forego’s
previous trainer Sherill Ward retired at the end of 1975. Owned and bred by
Martha Gerry of Lazy F. Ranch, Forego was a gigantically tall bay gelding by
Argentinian champion Forli. In Forego, Whiteley had in his barn a horse of
great courage and ability but with chronic leg problems. Under judicious
handling of the gelding, Forego would go on to two more championship seasons
and be regarded as the greatest weight carrying racehorse in modern times. (Resorting
to his tried and true “water therapy”, Frank Whiteley could be seen daily outside
the track barn hosing down Forego two or three hours a day, so that the puddles
that resulted were affectionately dubbed, “Lake Whiteley”.)
After wintering in South Carolina, Forego made his
six-year-old debut in May 1976, winning an allowance race at Belmont Park.
Assigned 130 lb. for the 1 mile Metropolitan Handicap, Forego under regular
rider Heliodoro Gustines produced his customary rally from the off the
pace to win by a neck over 1975 Preakness Stakes winner Master Derby. Winning
the Nassau County Handicap under 132 lb., he lost the Suburban Handicap under
134 lb. by a nose to Foolish Pleasure who was assigned 125 lb. with Lord Rebeau
(116 lb.) also a nose back in third. Gaining revenge, Forego (134 lb.) beat
both Lord Rebeau (114 lb.) and Foolish Pleasure (126 lb.) in the Brooklyn
Handicap run less than three weeks later.
Prepping for a fall campaign, Forego traveled to Monmouth
Park and finished a close third under 136 lb. in the Amory L. Haskell Handicap
to light weighted Hatchet Man (112 lb.). The Woodward Handicap was run this
year at 9 furlongs under handicap conditions. Forego was assigned 135 lb. with his recent
conqueror, Hatchet Man at 114 lb. Second top weight in the 10 horse
field was recent Travers Stakes winner Honest Pleasure at 121 lb. Under new rider, Bill Shoemaker (a Frank Whiteley favorite), Forego made his
characteristic charge from last place around the Belmont turn to win by 1¼
lengths over Dance Spell (115 lb.) with Honest Pleasure and Stumping
(106 lb.) dead-heating for third place, 2¾ lengths behind. Hatchet Man finished
a non-threatening sixth. Two weeks later the Marlboro Cup was run at 1¼ miles,
again under handicap conditions. Forego was assigned 137 lb. giving from 18–28
lb. to his 10 rivals. Compounding Forego’s task, the track condition was
sloppy, a surface his connections tried to avoid. In a race that crystalized
his greatness, Forego rallied as only he could from what looked like an
impossible situation as Honest Pleasure (119 lb.) setting all the pace was
holding off rivals until Forego’s surge could not be denied as he dropped his
head in front just at the finish.
The Jockey Gold Cup appeared to be a reward for Forego’s herculean efforts in the
Woodward and the Marlboro Cup. At weight for age and at 1½ miles, the gigantic
gelding seemed the proverbial sure thing. Unfortunately in his Marlboro
victory, he re-injured his troublesome ankle and for the second year in a row
was forced to miss the Gold Cup and not race again in 1976. At the Eclipse
Award Ceremony, he was named Champion Older Male Horse and Horse of the Year,
both for the third consecutive year.
Following the same script as in the previous year, Forego wintered well and returned to the races in
1977 with a victory in allowance race followed by a win in the Met Mile, this
time carrying 133 lb. He followed that with a victory in the Nassau County
Handicap under 136 lb., but failed by a neck to shoulder 138 lb. in the
Suburban Handicap while giving an incredible 24 lb. to victorious Quiet Little
Table. Showing perhaps his age, Forego was beaten over 11 lengths by Great
Contractor in the 1½ mile Brooklyn Handicap while conceding to the winner 25
lb.
After a seventh place finish in the Whitney Handicap at
Saratoga, albeit under 136 lb. and on a sloppy track, it appeared the tides of
time and injuries had sapped Forego. With two consecutive double digit length
losses, there were questions of whether Forego’s best races were behind him.
But the old warrior had one more arrow in his shaft. Back at Belmont, in the Woodward
Handicap at 9 furlongs, Forego received a weight break being assigned “only”
133 lb. He was facing his Brooklyn conqueror Great Contractor (114 lb.). Forego’s connections debated
whether the gelding should run on the sloppy Belmont oval, but in the end Frank
Whiteley gave the green light an hour before the race. Straightening in the
stretch, Forego closed strongly and surely to win by 1½ lengths over Silver
Series (114 lb.) with a Great Contractor a neck away. This was the fourth
consecutive Woodward victory for this grand gelding. What was even more
remarkable is that Forego had won the race under different conditions, twice at
1½ miles at weight for age conditions, and twice at 9 furlongs as a handicap.
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| James Hampton, Frank Whiteley, Martha Gerry and Bill Shoemaker with Forego after 1977 Woodward Handicap |
Frank Whiteley eventually turned over his training chores to
his son David who had great success with such stalwarts as champions Revidere,
Waya and Just A Game, Belmont Stakes winner Coastal and stellar grass performer
Tiller. Frank was inducted into the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in
1978. He retreated to his beloved Camden, S. C. training facility in 1984,
where for several years he provided early training for young thoroughbreds.
Finally succumbing to illnesses of age, he died in May 2, 2008. Besides David,
others such as Shug McGaughey and Barclay Tagg who worked under Frank Whiteley
have been able to carry forward his legacy of attention to detail, honesty and
no pretensions of fame – attributes not common in today’s horse trainers.
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