The road to the Travers rolls through Saratoga Springs on Saturday with the Grade 2 $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes. Top 3-year-olds match up in the wake of last Saturday’s Haskell at Monmouth with championship honors squarely still on the table.
Let’s meet the contenders for the 1-1/8 miles Jim Dandy (Race 10):
#1-SIERRA LEONE: The Kentucky Derby runner-up and Belmont Stakes third-place finisher seeks his second Grade 1 victory of the campaign, having scored Keeneland’s Blue Grass in April (pictured above). Late-running style should be on display in a race that includes several front-running types. Consistently plagued by bearing in during the stretch run of his races, Flavien Prat is tasked with finding the cleanest path for the Chad Brown trainee.
#2-SEIZE THE GREY: Wire-to-wire Preakness winner also set the tone in the Belmont Stakes before fading to seventh. Expect jockey Jaime Torres to employ front-running tactics again, given the inside post draw and advantage with a short run to the clubhouse turn over Saratoga’s 1-1/8 miles oval. Sire Arrogate romped in the 2016 Travers Stakes in his only career start at the Spa. Seize the Grey broke his maiden locally a summer ago, but must rebound from a disappointing Saratoga return in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has Jim Dandy victories in 1989 (Is It True) and 2001 (Scorpion).
#3-BATTEN DOWN: Regally bred son of Tapit and Close Hatches has won 2 straight in wire-to-wire fashion, including the Grade 3 Ohio Derby. Full-brother Tacitus finished second in the 2019 Jim Dandy as well as the Travers. Dam Close Hatches won the 2014 Personal Ensign in her only Spa appearance. Trainer Bill Mott secured the 2017 Jim Dandy trophy with Good Samaritan. Expect this one to pressure Seize the Grey for the early lead.
#4-PONY EXPRESS: Most lightly raced member of the field has made only 3 starts and exits a 9-length maiden romp at Santa Anita on June 15. Another with early foot, this Gun Runner colt is capable of making the front if sent by Joel Rosario, who won this race in 2017 (Good Samaritan) and 2022 (Epicenter). Trainer John Sadler rarely ventures outside California, but has had some success with the likes of Flightline, Catalina Cruiser and Stellar Wind. Dam Quiet Temper opened her career with a pair of runner-up efforts at Saratoga during the 2009 stand.
#5-GOULD’S GOLD: Trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. teamed last week to win the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga with their Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna. They’ll look to add to their dream season, highlighted by Mystik Dan’s Kentucky Derby 150 victory, with this Ohio Derby runner-up. Just a maiden win from 6 starts on the record, but missed by a nose in the Sir Barton at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard. This will be the Saratoga unveiling for the son of Goldencents, whose offspring at the Spa have a strong 18% win rate on dirt and a $1.39 ROI for every $1 bet, according to Betmix.
#6-FIERCENESS: The 2023 Champion 2-Year-Old Male can join Dornoch as the only 2-time Grade 1 winners on dirt in the current sophomore class. His Grade 1 Florida Derby victory was one of the season’s real exclamation points, winning by a record margin of 13-1/2 lengths. He’s not raced since the Kentucky Derby when he imploded to finish 15th as the 3-1 betting favorite. All 3 victories have come right up on the pace, so expect him to pressure the tempo under John Velazquez, whose 4 Jim Dandy victories are tied for most all-time. No trainer has won this race as often as Todd Pletcher, who notched his seventh such win a year ago with Forte, who also was a reigning 2-year-old champion.
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