The Jim Dandy result muddled the sophomore picture last Saturday at Saratoga and that was just the beginning. The very next day at Monmouth Park the two favorites bit the dust in the Haskell Invitational and another upset performer was rewarded.
The Jim Dandy is named in honor of the horse that scored an upset over Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox in the 1930 Travers at odds of 100-1.
In a racing rarity, the Kentucky Derby winner and the Preakness winner squared off in the Jim Dandy this year but neither could get the job done.
This was the first time since 1991 that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner met at Saratoga. In 1991 Kentucky Derby Derby winner Strike the Gold met Preakness winner Hansel but Fly So Free prevailed in the Jim Dandy.
Always Dreaming, who won the Kentucky Derby at 9-2 with a 102 Beyer Speed Figure, had not raced since a pop and stop effort in the Preakness Stakes. The Kentucky Derby video was up loaded by NBC Sports.
That event was run by Cloud Computing, who entered the Jim Dandy off a solid work tab but had not raced since winning the Preakness. The Preakness video was up loaded by US Racing.
Giuseppe the Great had only won one race and that was a sprint while Pavel shipped 3,000 miles after breaking his maiden at first asking at Santa Anita with a 97 Beyer.
Good Samaritan completed the short and sweet Jim Dandy cast and he was the second longest shot on the board. The image of Good Samaritan is courtesy of Brisnet.
As the gates opened, the Jim Dandy result went according to plan. Always Dreaming made the lead and eventually opened up a three and a half-length advantage. The lead was a mirage as Always Dreaming only led the Jim Dandy by a head at the top of the lane and he was under distinct pressure. Pavel had pushed the issue but his inexperience showed while Cloud Computing gave way badly after chasing Always Dreaming early on.
The pace was legitimate setting up the eventual Jim Dandy result. The splits were :24.13, :48.53, 1:13.27 and Always Dreaming got the mile in 1:38.23. Those fractions set up a successful belated kick by Good Samaritan. The Bill Mott student, under Joel Rosario, was right with the leaders at the top of the lane but extended to win by nearly five lengths.
The way the entire field bunched up is probably not the best indication of quality. It looked to be anybody’s race at the top of the lane and the winner just benefitted from a contested pace. To be frank, the Jim Dandy result was a factor of horses on the lead that were not ready for a peak performance.
Good Samaritan was racing on dirt for the first time and his future is as bright as any sophomore in the country. He is in the right hands and he figures to only improve as the distances increase.
Owned by WinStar Farm, this entire operation is about breeding. The money in breeding is with sires that have excelled on dirt and that prompted the switch to dirt for Good Samaritan. For WinStar Farm and Good Samaritan, the Jim Dandy result has opened up a plethora of options.
The horse that may benefit the most from the Jim Dandy may be Pavel. It is a herculean task to win a Grade 2 race after just winning a debut but Pavel has some things going for him. He is trained by Doug O’Neill, who knows what to do with a good horse and was ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who has stepped up to the plate at big moments and hit it out of the park in the past. Pavel is by Creative Cause, who won a Grade 1 and earned over a million. Pavel’s dam was unraced but she dropped Caracortado, who won a number of stakes, was proven routing and had earned nearly $900,000.
The Jim Dandy shocker just puts another question mark on this sophomore set of runners.
In New Jersey on Sunday in the Haskell Invitational, the surprises kept coming.
The way the Haskell shaped up was that the three inside horses had speed and the four on the outside would trail early. And that is what happened.
Battle of Midway was in post two but he steadied early, hesitated and then got to the rail and made the lead. Irish War Cry, from the rail, was second early and Timeline in post 3, pushed the issue too. The early leaders didn’t finish in the money while the winner, Girvin, came from dead last. He was expertly ridden by Robby Albarado and the rider was confident going in, Albarado: “We talked about it in the paddock and we were all on the same page. We thought the three horses to the inside would be the speed. He started to settle into his stride on the backside. I just tried to get him to the outside and keep up his momentum.”
It obviously worked.
Girvin was the second longest shot on the tote board. Trained by Joe Sharp, Girvin had been a Fair Grounds specialist before shipping to the Jersey Shore. All three of his wins came at that New Orleans track but the colt did run well prior to the Haskell when beaten a nose in the Ohio Derby. Girvin was flattered when the horse that just beat him a nose in the Ohio Derby returned to win the Indiana Derby on July 15.
Girvin has the blood and the maturity to prove that the Haskell success was no fluke. He is out of an unraced dam but the dam is a sibling to the two for two stakes winner Watch a Catch, who earned nearly $100,000.
Girvin was always expected to have a nice career. His sibling Cocked and Loaded was a Grade 3 winner and earned nearly $500,000.
Moving forward, this makes the Travers Stakes a completely wide-open affair.
The Travers Stakes is also called the Midsummer Derby and it will be renewed August 26. It was first run in 1864 and has been run at a number of different distances.
This is an extremely prestigious race and a full field is expected to fill the starting gate. When the Triple Crown Trail started this year, way back in January, no sophomore really showed the kind of style and flash that made anybody blush.
It seemed very early on that this was just an ordinary bunch of runners and that could prove to be the case. Now, and moving into the fall, is the time for the sophomore set to assert themselves and show the race community that this is a special crop.
With the results of the Jim Dandy and Haskell, that seems to be a longshot at this point. When upsets happen and when horses are together on the wire, it often suggests that a race, or in this case, a crop, is just ordinary.
We can wait till late August to get another clue, but at this point in time, look for the older horses to dominate when the Breeders’ Cup Classic is staged.
