Street Cry picked to win today's Saratoga feature

Godolphin's Street Cry drew the outside post position as the 4-5 favourite to win today's 75th running of the $750,000 Whitney Handicap (Grade 1) at Saratoga, New York.

Six horses were declarded for the 1 1/8-mile race at the post positions draw held during a media breakfast last morning at Saratoga Race Course.

Street Cry, who is owned by Dubai's Godolphin Stable and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, will be ridden by American Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey.

Street Cry, the powerful winner of the $6million Dubai World Cup and the Grade 1 Stephen Foster, arrived late this morning by van from Godolphin's American base in Belmont Park.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor and his assistant trainer Tom Albertrani, who has been overseeing Street Cry's preparations at Belmont Park, were scheduled to arrive at Saratoga early this morning.

The Chilean-bred defending champion Lido Palace drew the No. 4 post position for trainer Robert Frankel. The mount of Jorge Chavez he is the second choice at 5-2.

"I think this is the best race we've had yet this year," said Frankel on the NYRA website. Frankel has already won two Grade 1 races at the 2002 Saratoga meeting.

The Whitney Handicap will go to post as the ninth race of a 10-event card, with a post time of 5:20 p.m. eastern.

Left Bank, with Grade 1 wins in the Vosburgh and Cigar Mile on his resume, drew the unfavourable rail post in the nine-furlong race, just inside of Saint Verre, who may press Left Bank for the lead.

"The two things I've been hoping for the last 24 hours was that Saint Verre wouldn't enter and if he did, we would draw outside of him," trainer Todd Pletcher said on the website.

"It obviously compromises the way the race is going to unfold. If Saint Verre didn't go, we would have been the natural speed of the race and that would have made us dangerous. We'll have to play a lot of it on the break and leave a lot of it in Johnny's (jockey John Velazquez') hands. It's a huge edge if you can be loose on the lead and that's what we were hoping for."

Left Bank will carry 118 pounds, getting five pounds from highweight Street Cry.

Last year's winner, Lido Palace is looking to win back-to-back Whitney's, was drawn a safe No. 4. He will be ridden by Jorge Chavez for the first time.

Hall of Fame trainer Robert Frankel also had Lido Palace out for a three-furlong breeze on the Saratoga main track last morning and the Chilean-bred five-year-old returned a time of 35 2/5.

"He blew out fine this morning and everything went well," Frankel said. "I think he is doing better than last year. However, the competition is better than last year, too. So, I guess his chances (in the Whitney) are the same as last year. Hopefully, he can get the job done.

"If Street Cry runs his race like the one at Churchill Downs, he's going to be tough. Macho Uno is a really good horse, too."

In last year's Whitney, Lido Palace defeated Albert the Great and Gander while carrying 115 pounds. This time, Lido Palace will carry 119 pounds after coming off a second-place finish to E Dubai in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont.

Macho Uno, the 2000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner over Point Given and Street Cry, drew post position five. He finished third in the Suburban at Belmont behind E Dubai.

"He was victimised by a slow pace that day," trainer Joe Orseno said. "He tried to make a good run at the end, but he just couldn't get up."

Jockey Jon Court will be riding Unshaded, who will carry 114 pounds, for the fourth time this year. Unshaded is best remembered for winning the 2000 Travers here when he defeated Albert the Great and Belmont Stakes winner Commendable.

Even though he has not won a race in over a year, he did put in a strong second in his last race, the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows on July 6.