Even by Saratoga standards, Saturday's Grade 2 $600,000 Jim Dandy is a marquee event.
Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Preakness winner Cloud Computing receive above-the-title billing in the nine-furlong prep for the Grade 1 Travers Aug. 26. It's the first such matchup at Saratoga since Derby winner Strike the Gold faced Preakness hero Hansel in the 1991 Travers. Neither won that day, and only eight Derby winners have returned to the upstate New York track since (American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, finished second to Keen Ice in the 2015 Travers).
Todd Pletcher sends out Always Dreaming, early-season winner of the Grade 1 Florida Derby but a disappointing eighth in the Preakness, while Saratoga leader Chad Brown returns with Cloud Computing, last seen winning by a head over Classic Empire with a stalking trip at Pimlico.
John Velazquez keeps the mount on Always Dreaming, which gave both the Hall of Fame jockey and Pletcher their second Kentucky Derby victory, while Javier Castellano stays aboard Cloud Computing.
"Anytime you have the Kentucky Derby winner running you don't want to get beat," Pletcher said. "But it's something we thought a lot about between the Preakness and now and we wanted to get here not just with a fresh horse, but a horse hopefully fit enough to run a mile and an eighth.
"It's always a delicate balance when you're trying to freshen a horse up, and have him ready for a race like the Jim Dandy," the trainer said. "You know you have to be fit and prepared for it, but you also want to hopefully have something to build on, and something left in the tank for the (mile-and-quarter) Travers. I think we've been able to accomplish that in the time off after the Preakness."
Cloud Computing entered the Preakness fresh, skipping the Kentucky Derby after placing third in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial. His only other victory from four starts came in a February maiden race at Aqueduct.
Also in the Jim Dandy, named for the Saratoga upsetter of Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox, are Giuseppe the Great, trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito; Good Samaritan, making a Cigar-like switch from grass to dirt for Hall of Famer Bill Mott; and West Coast invader Pavel, stretching out for two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill.
Said Zito: "You've got a Derby winner and a Preakness winner, which means one thing -- we're hanging out in good company. That's all there is to it."
Sports on 07/27/2017