SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Jim Dandy Stakes may have lost Preakness winner Exaggerator to Sunday’s $1 million Haskell, but it still came up a solid race led by Belmont Stakes one-two finishers Creator and Destin as well as Mohaymen, who makes his first start since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby.
Destin seeks to give trainer Todd Pletcher a sixth victory in the Jim Dandy, which is the local prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 27.
Destin recorded back-to-back graded stakes victories in the Sam F. Davis and Tampa Bay Derby last winter, propelling him to the Kentucky Derby, where he finished sixth, seven lengths behind the victorious Nyquist.
In the Belmont Stakes, Destin pressed the pace of Gettsyburg before making the lead turning for home under Javier Castellano. It took a perfect ride from Irad Ortiz Jr. on Creator to nail Destin in the final jump. It was a heartbreaking loss, to be sure, but one that proved to Pletcher that Destin belongs with the division’s best.
“He showed his class in the Belmont – he showed he belongs at the top of the division,” Pletcher said. “He’s continuing to improve. He’s a horse we always felt like would probably be better in the summer and fall than he was in the spring, Based on the way he’s been breezing, we feel like that’s the case.”
Destin, a son of Giant’s Causeway, will break from post 4 under Castellano. He figures to lay relatively close to the pace, which figures to be set by the maiden Laoban, who is making his sixth consecutive start in a graded stakes. Laoban, trained by Eric Guillot, will break from post 2 under Jose Ortiz.
“We’d like a target,” Pletcher said. “If we don’t have one, then we’ll take what we have.”
Creator, who rallied from the back of the pack to win the Belmont, would like to see Laoban and Destin mix it up on the front end. Creator, trained by Steve Asmussen for WinStar Farm, will break from the rail.
Mohaymen won his first five races, four of them Grade 2 stakes, including the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth last winter at Gulfstream Park. After finishing fourth as the favorite in the Florida Derby, Mohaymen ran a respectable fourth in the Kentucky Derby.
Immediately after the Derby, the connections of Mohaymen placed their focus on the Travers, and they will use the Jim Dandy as their prep. Junior Alvarado will ride Mohaymen from post 3.
Governor Malibu, fourth in the Belmont Stakes, and Race Me Home, second in the Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park, complete the Jim Dandy field.
The Jim Dandy is one of four stakes on an 11-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Eastern. Sharing the bill with the Jim Dandy is the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt for older sprinters, the Grade 2 Amsterdam for 3-year-old sprinters, and the Grade 2 Bowling Green on turf, featuring the multiple Grade 1 and Group 1 winner Flintshire.
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