HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – White Abarrio is generally considered to be one of the top handicap horses in the world following his one-sided victory over the enormously talented Locked in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational earlier this winter. But despite that distinction, his connections resisted the temptation to make the long journey to the Middle East to go after $20 million and $12 million purses in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, respectively, and to instead compete for a prize of $165,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 3 Ghostzapper Stakes. White Abarrio is the 1-9 morning-line favorite in a Ghostzapper that lured a field of just seven older horses. This includes a pair of White Abarrio’s stablemates, One Sharp Cookie and Super Corinto, from the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. The 1 1/16-mile race will serve as a stepping-stone to Joseph’s next major goal for White Abarrio, the Grade 1 Met Mile at Saratoga on June 7. White Abarrio rose to the top of the handicap division during the second half of his 2023 campaign following a one-sided victory in the Grade 1 Whitney and one-length triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But he toppled from the heights with disappointing performances in the Saudi Cup and Met Mile to open 2024. It was at that point that his owners, led by Mark Cornett’s C2 Racing Stable, sent White Abarrio from trainer Rick Dutrow back to Joseph, with whom White Abarrio began his career and won the Florida Derby in 2022. This decision led to his reemergence among the elite of his division following an eye-catching performance in the Pegasus. “The journey we’ve been on with this horse, to lose him and go through what we did at Churchill, then watch him win the Breeders’ Cup – at that point I never had a Breeders’ Cup winner and you never know if you’re ever going to get one,” said Joseph, who ultimately won the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with Soul of an Angel. “All those things go through your head, and at first I wasn’t in the mental capacity to have him back. It took me a while to get over it. But to finally get him back meant a lot and has been a blessing to me.” :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day. Joseph said White Abarrio’s preparations for the Pegasus were perfect and led to a performance that equaled, if not exceeded, what he felt had been his most impressive effort to that point – his victory at Del Mar in the BC Classic. “When he gets the right kind of trip, he’s brilliant,” said Joseph. “I thought the Pegasus was that kind of race, especially when looking back at the horses he beat that day and seeing how they’ve come back to run. Like Locked, who came back with such a sensational performance in the Santa Anita Handicap, and Skippy [Skippylongstocking], who beat a really good horse of Brad Cox’s [Most Wanted] and set a track record in the Challenger at Tampa.” Irad Ortiz Jr. will take his regular seat aboard the prohibitive favorite, who carries 124 pounds under the allowance conditions of the race. Along with the Joseph trio, the Ghostzapper lineup includes Lightning Tones, who finished third, beaten just two lengths by the heavily favored Mindframe in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile four weeks ago, and the Grade 1-winning filly Power Squeeze, who upset the Alabama last summer at Saratoga. Lightning Tones is in the best form of his career. A $16,000 claim by trainer Carlos Narvaez here last summer, he defeated One Sharp Cookie by 1 1/4 lengths in upsetting the Sunshine Classic in his 2025 debut before finishing just two lengths behind the odds-on Mindframe as a 55-1 outsider in the Gulfstream Park Mile. Power Squeeze, who finished eighth after breaking from the extreme outside in the Pegasus, scratched out of a one-mile allowance race here two weeks ago to ostensibly await the nine-furlong Top Flight at Aqueduct on April 12. But her trainer, Jorge Delgado, had a change of heart, deciding to keep her home to take on White Abarrio for a second time. “Besides White Abarrio, with all due respect, the race is not really strong and she gets to stay home,” said Delgado. “Yes, it’s going to be tough to beat him, but I’ve seen bigger favorites lose. When she came back from the Pegasus, she had dirt everywhere, from her ears to her tail. If she can get a cleaner trip, she’ll be competitive.” – additional reporting by David Grening :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.