Top 3-year-olds clash in Jim Dandy at Saratoga
By NY Hot List Staff | Thursday, July 25, 2024
The Jim Dandy Stakes may be a prep for the August 24 Travers Stakes, but it also happens to have attracted a quality field with a lively matchup. The 1 1/8-mile stakes will bring together Fierceness, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby, and Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone as both horses hope to get back on the winning track and re-enter the picture for the 3-year-old championship.
$500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga, Saturday, Race 10, 5:43 pm ET.
(1) Sierra Leone returns following his third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga and his narrow loss in the Kentucky Derby. The Chad Brown runner gets an ideal pace set-up in which he is the only closer and all the other horses in the field want to be part of the early pace. (6) The connections of Fierceness opted to run in the Jim Dandy instead of the Haskell. Remember that he was a debut maiden winner at Saratoga by more than 11 lengths on his way the becoming the 2-year-old champion. He was last seen finishing 15th in the Kentucky Derby. (2) Seize the Grey comes back from his 7th place finish in the Belmont following his victories in the Preakness and the Pat Day Mile (G2). (3) Batten Down needed four starts before he won his maiden race which happened at Churchill Downs in April. Trainer Bill Mott then sent him to Thistledown where he won the Ohio Derby (G3) with a front-end effort.
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