Biancone Feels Up to Challenge

Bob Baffert--winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Cup Juvenile and trainer of the first four finishers in last Wednesday’s Del Mar Futurity--might have a full deck for next month’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but Patrick Biancone feels he’ll go to Arlington Park with a strong hand of his own.

Biancone saddled Whywhywhy for a 1 3/4-length win in Sunday’s Belmont Futurity--as Baffert’s Truckle Feature finished third--and in another Breeders’ Cup prep, he plans to run Zavata in the Champagne at Belmont Park on Oct. 5.

“He’s a real fighter, he’s got a big heart and I think he’ll win the Breeders’ Cup,” Biancone said of Whywhywhy, who overtook Truckle Feature and then outkicked the second-place finisher, Pretty Wild, in the Futurity, run over a wet track in a driving rainstorm. Ridden by Edgar Prado, Whywhywhy ran the mile in 1:36 1/5, paying $5.20.

Whywhywhy’s sire, Mr. Greeley, is a nominated Breeders’ Cup stallion, but Biancone’s colt was not nominated for the races Oct. 26 at Arlington and his owners, who include the trainer, would have to pay a supplementary fee of $90,000 to run. That would seem to be an easy decision after Whywhywhy won his third in a row, after a second-place finish in his debut, and posted his first victory beyond six furlongs.

Biancone predicted that Zavata, who won two earlier stakes before running third in the Hopeful, will win the Champagne.

In a Belmont race for 2-year-old fillies, trainer Shug McGaughey won the Matron for the third time in the last four years as Storm Flag Flying earned a 12 3/4-length win. Ridden by John Velazquez, Dinny Phipps’ filly was clocked in 1:38 2/5 for a mile and paid $4.80. Wild Snitch was second.

Storm Flag Flying’s final Breeders’ Cup prep is expected to be the Fritzette at Belmont on Oct. 5.

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Zippy Chippy remained winless in 96 races, finishing sixth by 5 1/2 lengths at the fair in Northampton, Mass.... Spunky Gal, ridden by Scott Stevens and trained by Vladimir Cerin, won for the second time in two weeks--first on grass, now on dirt--when she beat Lookn Mighty Fine by 1 1/4 lengths in the $49,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes at Fairplex Park.