White Abarrio vaults to second in NTRA Thoroughbred poll after Oaklawn win

White Abarrio did more than take the Oaklawn Handicap. The 7-year-old gray used a sharp April 18 stretch run to shove Sovereignty and Journalism aside, then vaulted from 10th to second in Week 13 of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Top Thoroughbred Poll, turning one graded-stakes upset into a referendum on the division’s older-horse order.

Under Irad Ortiz Jr., White Abarrio covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.49 over a fast track at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Oaklawn said the time was the quickest in the race since Cigar went 1:47.22 in 1995, a marker that helped explain why the result resonated so strongly with voters. White Abarrio carried 121 pounds, earned $731,250 from the $1.25 million-guaranteed race, and did it before an estimated crowd of 35,000.

That performance changed the poll immediately. White Abarrio collected 12 first-place votes and 281 points, good for No. 2 behind Magnitude, who stayed on top with 16 first-place votes and 291 points. Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year, slipped only one spot from second to third after finishing runner-up in his first start back from an eight-month layoff. Journalism held seventh after running third, but the bigger story was White Abarrio’s jump into the center of the national conversation.

For a horse with a résumé that already included the 2022 Florida Derby, the 2023 Whitney Stakes, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the 2025 Pegasus World Cup, Oaklawn was not a sentimental flourish. It was another major-race data point, the kind that forces handicappers and voters to treat him less like a durable throwback and more like a live division leader. The victory also carried extra weight because it came against two of the most recognizable names in the game, including Sovereignty and Journalism in the same race.

White Abarrio’s next start will have to prove the Oaklawn effort was not a one-off peak. His connections said the Breeders’ Cup remained the goal, and BloodHorse reported he was likely to race again in two to three months, with a return to Gulfstream Park expected. If he comes back with the same finish against older elite company, the question will shift from whether he belongs near the top of the poll to whether he is the horse to beat in the Breeders’ Cup picture.