Whitney Vault: PHOTO!

One of my favorite Whitney Handicaps happened in 2006. It featured the Candy Stripes colt Invasor who had only been in the US for a few months and the Charismatic colt Sun King who was always the bridesmaid, but never the bride. Both took two different paths to get to that year's Whitney. Invasor was a Argentinan bred who did almost all his running in Uruguay, before being purchased by Shadwell and transfered to Dubai to run in the UAE Derby. He ran poorly in the race, defeated by Discreet Cat. Sun King (aka Elvis) who was actually the same age as Invasor (SH foals are at 2 to 6 months younger then their NH counterparts), had been having a bit of secondits lately. They put on a show that no one would forget.



Invasor would hold off Elvis to win the Whitney. Invasor would go on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and was named Horse of the Year. The next year, he returned to win the Donn Handicap and the Dubai World Cup. He was retired shortly afterwards due to injury, his first crop is 2 this year and has yet to sire a winner. Sun King would sadly not win again in his career. Although he did finish with a good second in the Ack Ack. His first crop is also 2 this year and he has sired three winners so far.

Tomorrow: Commentator!