By Brien Bouyea
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — At their best, Fierceness, Sierra Leone, and Seize the Grey are exceptional racehorses capable of dazzling performances, but each of the Grade 1 winners enter today’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course with questions to answer following losses in the $500,000 contest at nine furlongs, which is the Spa’s major prep for the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes.Repole Stable’s Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Fierceness, a multiple Grade 1 winner, most recently attended the pace before finishing a distant 15th as the beaten favorite in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the City of Light bay entered from a 13½-length romp in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Florida Derby in March at Gulfstream Park.“We are happy with him. We gave him plenty of time after the Kentucky Derby, and I think it has done him well,” said Pletcher. “He has put on some weight and has trained really well.”The Florida Derby effort earned a career and field-best 110 Beyer Speed Figure for Fierceness, which improved upon his previous-best 105 for a 6¼-length victory over now multiple Grade 1-winner Muth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November at Santa Anita Park. Both wins came with Hall of Famer John Velazquez at the helm. Fierceness, who was scratched from the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park in favor of this race, completed his final preparations with a half-mile breeze in 49.61 seconds July 21 over the Spa main track.“We weren’t looking to do a whole lot. It was kind of a final easy half-mile before the race,” Pletcher said. “I thought it was executed very well. It looks like he’s in good order.”Out of the winning Stay Thirsty mare Nonna Bella, Fierceness, a Kentucky homebred, won his debut by 11¼ lengths in August in his lone appearance at the Spa. He boasts a lifetime record of 3-0-1 from six starts with $1.7 million in earnings. Fierceness, assigned 124 pounds, will exit the outermost post 6 under Velazquez and is the second choice on the morning line at 9-5.Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will send out favored Sierra Leone (post 1, Flavien Prat, even money), who enters from a closing third in the 10-furlong Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga. The late-running Gun Runner dark bay was unable to reel in the victorious Dornoch after drifting in and bumping with some rivals. Sierra Leone returned to the work tab on June 23 on the Oklahoma dirt and has completed weekly half-mile breezes since. On July 21, he covered the distance in 49.73 seconds solo.“He did super. He’s in a nice rhythm,” said Brown. “He galloped out with good energy. That’s just what I’m looking for six days out. Really solid and well within himself.”In the Belmont defeat, Sierra Leone matched his career-best 99 Beyer, earned when defeated by a nose by Mystik Dan in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby after battling with Forever Young in the stretch drive. Although denied in his pair of Triple Crown efforts, Sierra Leone successfully closed to win his first start this year, when adding blinkers, in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Risen Star in February at Fair Grounds. He followed with a rallying score in the Grade 1 Blue Grass in April at Keeneland.A $2.3 million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase, out of the Grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Heavenly Love, Sierra Leone has earned a field-high $2.1 million through a 3-2-1 record from six starts for owners Mrs. John Magnier, Peter M. Brant, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook T. Smith.To the delight of more than 2,500 shareholders, MyRacehorse’s Seize the Grey (post 2, Jaime Torres, 6-1) was a pacesetting winner of the Preakness on May 18 at Pimlico Race Course. Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, the Arrogate gray successfully stretched out to 1 3/16 miles after taking the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 4 at Churchill.Seize the Grey showed the way once again last-out in the Belmont before fading to seventh. In his other local effort, Seize the Grey, a $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase, graduated at second asking with a 1¾-length score over Dornoch in July 2023. He has earned more than $1.8 million from a record of 4-0-3 from 11 starts.Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Batten Down (post 3, Junior Alvarado, 5-1) is the lone member of the field to enter off a graded victory, earned in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 22 at Thistledown. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Tapit gray set the pace and held off returning foe Gould’s Gold by 1¾ lengths. Batten Down won by 8¾ lengths to graduate in his fourth start, going 10 furlongs against elders on April 30 at Churchill. Both scores earned a career-best 93 Beyer.“When you have a horse like that, you look at all the options and think of where you fit. We felt it was time to reach out and take a chance in the Jim Dandy,” said Mott.Gould’s Gold (post 5, Brian Hernandez, Jr., 15-1), owned by 4 G Racing, Lance Gasaway, and Magdalena Farm, enters from the Grade 3 Ohio Derby as well for conditioner Kenny McPeek. The Goldencents gray was also second in the Sir Barton on May 18 at Pimlico to Corporate Power, who exited to run second to the 3-for-3 Unmatched Wisdom in the Curlin at Saratoga.“He’s certainly one of the better 3-year-olds, but he’s got to find four or five lengths. We’re ambitious to try him, and we like the work he’s been doing,” said McPeek. “We might as well try him and then later in the season we have the option to go back to allowance condition. But right now, there’s that window of time to work through if he’s next level. He trains like he is.”Rounding out the field is last-out maiden-winner Pony Express (post 4, Joel Rosario, 20-1) for trainer John Sadler. Owned by Talla Racing, Three Chimneys Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds, Pony Express ships from Santa Anita off a nine-length victory at 1 1/16 miles on June 15.
Originally Published: July 26, 2024 at 7:15 a.m.
Source link : https://www.oneidadispatch.com/2024/07/26/horse-racing-jim-dandy-top-contenders-looking-to-rebound/
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Publish date : 2024-07-26 15:02:22
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