It would be an upset, no doubt about it. If Mr. Buff finds a way to win Saturday's Grade I, 750,000 Whitney, heads would turn.
There are five horses running in the 1 1/8-mile race, annually the showcase race for older horses at the Spa meet and named for the first family of the long and storied history of Saratoga.
Mr. Buff is a classy New York-bred and has accomplished plenty in his 38-race career. Like the other four horses entered in the Whitney, he has earned more than $1 million. He has won 14 of his 37 starts on the dirt. Most of his success has come against other New York-breds.
The son of Friend Or Foe, Mr. Buff has run in graded stakes races against open company four times. His best finish was a fifth, in the Grade II Suburban at Belmont on the Fourth of July. In his Grade I starts, he has shown his trademark early speed in all three but faded in all of them.
Here he is, taking another swing. Trainer John Kimmel will make no apology for leading Mr. Buff into the Whitney. The 6-year-old is 12-1 on the morning line and will be banging heads with established older horses like Tom's d'Etat, Code of Honor, Improbable and By My Standards.
"We know this place has been known as the 'Graveyard of Favorites,' " Kimmel said this week, "but Mr. Buff is stepping into some deep water in this race."
That being said, if he isn't in the race, he doesn't have a chance to pull off the upset.
"He is a good horse and good horses can be dangerous," Kimmel said. "You never know in a race. Strange things can happen. Somebody could not break well, somebody could get into trouble. We have seen it. You can have all sorts of strange stuff happen, and if you're not in it, you can kick yourself for not at least giving yourself an opportunity."
Mr. Buff deserves an opportunity because he has, at times, been brilliant. He won his first three starts of the year, albeit against state-breds, by a combined 32 1/2 lengths. In the one-mile Haynesfield on Feb. 22, he powered through for a 20-length win.
Then the trouble started. Kimmel said he had four employees test positive for the coronavirus shortly after that race. He said he had 12 horses in his New York barn and two people to care for them. Because he didn't have enough help, Kimmel had to send Mr. Buff back to the barn where all he did for the next four weeks was walk.
By the time the horse came back to Kimmel, he had lost some of his muscle tone. That forced the trainer to rush Mr. Buff to his next race, the Commentator on June 12. He ran second.
"It wasn't like he ran a bad race, but I don't think it was his 'A' performance," Kimmel said. "He was fine coming out of the race, but about the fourth or fifth day coming back to the track, he looked like he was a little funny in his (left) front."
Mr. Buff was treated, living in the foot tub three times a day for soaking. After getting the horse comfortable, he began breezing and preparing for the Suburban. Kimmel, a former veterinarian, had the horse checked out again and there was a fairly significant area cut out that had "some old, dried blood in there."
It was cut out, the area treated with medication to toughen up the soft tissue and here he is.
Kimmel says Mr. Buff is feeling good, training good and ready to take on the big boys in the Whitney.
Kimmel has had some success in big races with New York-breds before. In 2017, he won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint with Bar of Gold at odds of 66-1 and she paid $135.40. Bar of Gold was owned and bred by Chester and Mary Broman, who also bred and own Mr. Buff.
Why not take a chance?
"He is an older horse and has run against some pretty good competition," Kimmel said. "Stranger things have happened. This is only a five-horse field and I have no other place to run him. Put all those factors together and I think it's worth a shot."
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
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Mr. Buff looking for upset in Whitney at Saratoga - Times Union
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