SARATOGA SPRINGS — Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito sat on a bench in the courtyard of his barn 84 compound Sunday morning with his hands clasped loosely behind his head.

Though he had changed his clothes from the night before, Zito still wore the smile put on his face by Commentator, an author­itative winner of Saturday’s Grade I $750,000 Whitney Handicap at the age of 7.

“It feels great,” Zito said. “That was tremendous.”

The victory was Comment­ator’s second in the Whitney, the first coming in 2005, and fourth in six lifetime starts at Saratoga Race Course. The gelded son of Distorted Humor is now 12-for-19 with $1,541,936 in career earnings, $956,231 of that at the Spa.

Commentator earned an automatic entry to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. As a prep, Zito is eyeing the $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap Sept. 20 at Suffolk Downs.

Zito feels the timing would be good, giving the elder statesman five weeks to the Classic. A longtime horse advocate, Zito also supports the track’s recently adopted zero-tolerance policy banning any horseman who sells a horse for slaughter.

“I like the timing, I like what the people in Boston are doing,” Zito said. “It’s good for the horse, and it’s good for horses.

“Maybe the Commentator race is also running for the horse slaughter issue. It’s a run for a cause. That’s what I’m going to recommend to [owner] Mr. [Tracy] Farmer, if

everything is good.”

Another option for Comment­ator is the 11⁄8-mile Woodward at Saratoga on Aug. 30, which doesn’t intrigue Zito.

“The only other possibility is if he tells me to come back in the Woodward, but he already did that, so what’s the difference?” Zito said. “The Woodward can’t top what he did in the Whitney.”

MILESTONE MAN

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux picked up his 5,000th career victory aboard Bella Attrice in Sunday’s seventh race.

Desormeaux, 38, was greeted by cheers from the crowd as he returned to the winner’s circle, where he was presented with a sign and a cake honoring his accomplishment.

A 5-year-old mare trained by Bruce Brown for Gumpster Stable, Bella Attrice sat off the pace before being swung to the outside at the top of the stretch and pulling away for a 21⁄4-length victory.

The 3-2 favorite in a field reduced to nine by early scratches, Bella Attrice ($5.10) ran one mile in 1:40.94 on an inner turf course listed as yielding.

Desormeaux had struggled to reach the milestone since picking up win No. 4,998 on July 7 at Belmont Park. He snapped an 0-for-30 streak to move within one aboard Jazz Nation on opening day, and was in a 1-for-46 slump.

“They don’t give away

accolades. They made me earn it,” Desormeaux said. “It probably was deservedly needing the wait because last week, I was thinking it was just another number.

“But I got to dwell upon it and think about it, and I’m in awe of the number. I mean, 5,000. Wow. Those numbers I attained in Cal­ifornia and now New York, and I’m proud of that. That’s 5,000 in the ‘A’ league.”

A three-time Eclipse Award winner, Desormeaux won his first race on July 13, 1986 at Evangeline Downs. He won his third Kentucky Derby and second Preakness with Big Brown this year.

ON THE MEND

Troy native Roddy Valente was back at trainer Bruce Levine’s barn 64 the morning after his undefeated Grade I-winning homebred Bustin Stones was scratched from Saturday’s Grade II A.G. Vanderbilt with a bruised right front hoof.

“Bruce said he was a little better this morning,” Valente said. “Hopefully, he comes out of it quick enough that we can get something going.”

Six-for-six in his career, Bustin Stones has been nominated to the $100,000 Teddy Drone Aug. 3 at Monmouth Park.

AROUND THE TRACK

u Cribnote, a 2-year-old second-time starter from trainer Rick

Violette, romped to a 131⁄2-length win in the second race. The Read the Footnotes colt ran 51⁄2 furlongs in 1:03.32, just .19 off the track

record set by J Be K last Aug. 29.

u 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin is scheduled to breeze this morning at 5:45 on the Oklahoma training track.