- Saratoga Race Course: Short, but ‘stacked’ field lined up for Jim Dandy

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Trainer Brad Cox is taking three swings at the Grade II Jim Dandy on Saturday.

The reigning 2-year-old male champion will be trying to strike him out.

And trainer Steve Asmussen also has a dangerous horse entered.

That’s it. That’s the entire field, but as Cox said on Friday morning, “Short field, but it’s a Grade I [caliber] race. It’s stacked.”

Forte, the 2022 Eclipse Award winner, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite off a second–place finish to Arcangelo in the Belmont Stakes, in which two of Cox’s Jim Dandy runners, Angel of Empire and Hit Show, dead-heated for fourth.

Rounding out Cox’s threesome is the lightly raced Saudi Crown, and Asmussen will saddle Matt Winn winner Disarm, who was fourth in the Kentucky Derby.

Trainer Todd Pletcher added a set of narrow-cupped blinkers to Forte’s equipment for the first time in a breeze last Saturday, and Forte will wear them in the Jim Dandy as a means of keeping his attention on jockey Irad Ortiz’s guidance instead of on his rivals.

Prior to the Belmont, Forte had been on a five-race winning streak that began with the Grade I Hopeful at Saratoga on closing day of the 2022 meet.

“He’s the champion, and I think right now he’s the leader of the 3-year-old division,” Cox said. “I thought his Belmont run off of 10 weeks [unraced] was an incredible race. I don’t know if three’s enough to beat him, but we’ll find out tomorrow. He’s damn good. We’re going to take a swing.”

Angel of Empire and Hit Show are seasoned colts who have kept busy 2023 campaigns, while Saudi Crown has run just three times, never longer than a mile and never around two turns.

Cox said that, ideally, he’d like to see Saudi Crown setting the pace on the first turn, with his other two closely in tow.

“It’s kind of like Essential Quality and Knicks Go in the [Breeders’ Cup] Classic,” he said. “We thought we had two opportunities to win the race. Look, you don’t want any of them to lose, but we’ll see. It’s really just about getting good trips.”

With Forte scratched the morning of the Kentucky Derby with a minor foot bruise, Angel of Empire was the post-time favorite, at 4-1. He finished third by a length and a half behind Mage, who arrived at Saratoga this week but is skipping the Jim Dandy and training up to the Aug. 26 Travers.

Hit Show won the Withers at Aqueduct in February and qualified for the Kentucky Derby with a second-place finish by a nose in the Wood Memorial. He was fifth in the Derby.

Luis Saez will get the mount on Hit Show in the Jim Dandy, after Manny Franco had ridden him for his first four starts of 2023. Flavien Prat will ride Angel of Empire, and Florent Geroux will be on Saudi Crown.

“It’s three pilots that all know the horses, with the exception of Luis, who has not ridden Hit Show, but I think he’ll be a good fit,” Cox said. “He breezed him last week and really liked him, so he’s got confidence in him.”

Saudi Crown’s career resume amounts to a maiden win at Keeneland in April, an allowance win at Churchill Downs and a second by a nose in the one-mile Grade III Dwyer at Belmont Park on July 1, when he led all the way before grudgingly giving it up at the wire to Fort Bragg.

Cox said owner Faisal Mohammed Alqahtani of FMQ Stables was interested in running in the Jim Dandy, and when Saudi Crown had a sharp work last weekend and the field came up short, they made a late decision to run here instead of the Smarty Jones at Parx on Aug. 22.

No matter what Saudi Crown does in the Jim Dandy, he likely would stay on track for the Sept. 23 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx instead of running in the Travers.

“It’s maybe short on early pace, as well. That might give him an opportunity,” Cox said. “We’ll see what happens with him on Saturday. I like him. I know he’s a very good colt. He has to step up here in a huge race. It is back in four weeks [from the Dwyer], but I’m not certain this would be a prep for the Travers for him. Maybe for the P-A Derby. We’ll let him kind of sort all that out on Saturday.”

“But I did love what I saw from him last weekend. He fits, and from a pace standpoint, he should be right there early.  I thought his last race was phenomenal. Probably just a touch too quick early, but we’re hopeful he can wrangle some of that speed. And I think he can. He’s a very smart horse.”

Disarm, who broke his maiden at Saratoga last year by 6 1/4 lengths, has hit the board in six of seven career starts, with the fourth in the Kentucky Derby the exception.

He beat Verifying in the Matt Winn at Ellis Park on June 11, the day after the Belmont, by a half-length over Verifying, who went on to win the Indiana Derby.

Forte and Angel of Empire will each carry 124 pounds in the Jim Dandy, to 120 each for Hit Show and Disarm, and 118 for Saudi Crown.

Forecasted rain probably won’t have a negative impact on the chances of Forte or Disarm.

Forte won the Hopeful by three lengths on a sloppy, sealed track, and Disarm faced that condition in the Matt Winn.

ELITE POWER VANDERBILT FAVORITE

Campion male sprinter Elite Power puts his seven-race winning streak on the line in the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt in the eighth race on the Jim Dandy card.

He’s the 4-5 favorite, and the top contender to beat him is Gunite, who was fourth to Elite Power’s stablemate, Cody’s Wish, in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in November.

Gunite has run at Saratoga four times, winning the 2021 Hopeful and the 2022 Amsterdam. He’s coming off a win in the Aristides at Churchill Downs on June 3. 

Also on the card, the third race has been designated as “NYRA Salutes PDJF Across America Day” in honor of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

The fifth race is the annual John Cansdale Memorial race, for the former executive director of the New York State Racing Wagering Board (since renamed the NYS Gaming Commission) from 2005-08.

Cansdale, who also served as general counsel for the Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid, died on Oct. 8, 2018, at the age of 54.

In the seventh race, Dornoch, a full brother to Mage, will make his much-anticipated career debut. He has been training in Saratoga since May and is the 2-1 favorite.

“We just want to get him started,” trainer Danny Gargan said. “He’s going to be a two-turn horse. He isn’t the fastest out of the gate, but I think he’s a very talented horse. I want to get this race in him and then stretch him out. He’s a big, big horse. He’ll break a little slow and hopefully we’ll sit fifth or sixth. If he breaks, he’ll run big.”