Jim Dandy Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Essential Quality Holds Off Keepmeinmind For Jim Dandy Win

In a hard-fought battle to the wire, Essential Quality, the 2-5 favorite, prevailed by a half-length over a tenacious Keepmeinmind to win Saturday's nine-furlong, $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy for 3-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Godolphin homebred's victory in the 58th running of the Jim Dandy stamped him as the favorite for Saratoga's signature race, the $1.25 million Grade 1 Runhappy Travers on August 28. In June, the handsome gray son of Tapit was the decisive winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

Essential Quality, who has been piloted by Luis Saez in seven of his eight career starts, defeated four rivals after the scratch of Risk Taking.

Dr Jack broke sharp from his rail post and was followed by Masqueparade, Weyburn, and Keepmeinmind. Saez had Essential Quality in the clear on the outside in fifth, not far off the leaders. Following sharp fractions of :23.81, :47.41, and 1:11.13 on the fast main track, the pacesetter was retreating while Masqueparade and Weyburn were taking up prominent positions as the field turned for home.

But Essential Quality, with a sweeping outside move, bore down on those rivals, while Keepmeinmind, whose sire Laoban won the 2016 Jim Dandy, was snaking his way up on the rail. It then became a race down to the finish line between those two, with Essential Quality pulling clear in the shadow of the wire, stopping the clock in 1:49.92.

It was a nail-biter for Essential Quality's trainer, Brad Cox.

“When they straightened up, I thought, 'Wow we've been wide both turns,' and then we see a horse slip up the inside [No. 4, Keepmeinmind] who looked like he had some run left,” Cox said. “It made for some anxious moments down the lane. Overall, he's a very determined horse. He has the heart of a champion. He's a good horse, he stays on.

“There was a lot of ground lost today,” Cox added. “Luis obviously had to work to win. He got something out of it, I do think that. I think he's carrying a little more weight now than he was leading up to the Derby or Belmont. I think this was a good tightener for him, four weeks out [from the Travers].”

The win marked a second straight and third overall Jim Dandy win for Godolphin, whose royal blue colors scored last year with Mystic Guide as well as with Alpha in 2012. The last time a Jim Dandy winner connected with a victory in the Travers was 2012 when Alpha finished in a dead-heat for the win with Golden Ticket.

Jimmy Bell, president of Godolphin operations in the United States, said, “The really good horses just show up and find a way to get things done and he has seemed to do that every start. Consistency has been his hallmark and it was a battle down the stretch. It was probably good for him, which is easier to say after the race than when they're at the sixteenth pole.”

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For his part, Saez said, he felt confident he was sitting aboard the winner.

“I saw him [No. 4, Keepmeinmind], but I had a lot of horse and I knew he was going to finish,” the meet's leading rider said. “The plan today was not to take too much away from him. He always fights and he always wants to win.”

Essential Quality returned $2.80 for a $2 win wager. Find this race's chart here.

Masqueparade finished third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Keepmeinmind, and was followed under the wire by Weyburn and Dr Jack.

The win elevated Essential Quality's earnings to $3,545,144 and brought last year's 2-year-old champion's record to 7-0-0 from eight starts. His lone career loss came in the Kentucky Derby when he crossed the wire in fourth place.

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‘Everything Has Been Positive’ With Juvenile Champ, Jim Dandy Favorite Essential Quality

Godolphin's Essential Quality has gone off as the favorite in six of his seven career starts. The reigning Champion 2-Year-Old has rewarded that confidence almost every time, notching six wins along with a competitive fourth-place effort in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs. This Saturday, Essential Quality will likely be the top mutuel choice again, with the 1-2 morning-line favorite headlining a six-horse field in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy for sophomores going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course.

Essential Quality's appearance in the 58th running of the Jim Dandy will mark his first race since besting Hot Rod Charlie by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 5, which gave conditioner Brad Cox – who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in 2020 – his first career win in a Triple Crown race. The Tapit colt has breezed three times this month at Saratoga since shipping from Churchill, including a five-furlong work in 1:00.90 on Saturday over the main track, with Cox saying he's adapted well to his new surroundings.

“I think he looks like he put on weight. He looks great,” Cox said. “I feel like he's grown just in the short time he's been here at Saratoga, from his muscle-tone to his weight. Everything has been positive since he's moved here. I think he really likes it here.”

Essential Quality surged on the scene with a 3-for-3 juvenile campaign in which he won his debut by four lengths in September before capturing the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity in October at Keeneland and winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile by three-quarters of a length over Hot Rod Charlie in November over the same Kentucky track to secure the Eclipse Award.

As a sophomore, Essential Quality sustained those winning ways with scores in the Grade 3 Southwest and Grade 2 Blue Grass on the Kentucky Derby trail. In the “Run for the Roses,” the Kentucky homebred overcame a bump at the start to still finish a competitive fourth, just one length back to winner Medina Spirit and behind runner-up and stablemate Mandaloun and third-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie. Essential Quality cracked triple digits for Beyer Speed Figures for the first time in the Kentucky Derby, earning an even 100, which he then surpassed by garnering a 109 for winning the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes a month later.

“I thought the Kentucky Derby was one of his best races. He's a horse who acts like he's getting better as the year goes on,” Cox said. “He doesn't over-do it in training. You can tell this week, that's he's just a little more antsy, biting at the grooms, but feeling really well. He's showing us he has plenty of energy.”

Essential Quality, with regular rider Luis Saez in the irons, drew post 5 in the Jim Dandy field which also includes Keepmeinmind, Weyburn, Dr Jack, Masqueparade and Risk Taking. The Jim Dandy also serves as a prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers for sophomores going 1 1/4 miles on August 28.

Expectations are high when a three-time Grade 1 winner is loaded in the starting gate, but Cox said he welcomes the challenge since it means he has a talented contender to send out in another prestigious race.

“I'm assuming he'll be a short price on Saturday and when you're a short price, there's always pressure,” Cox said. “It's one of those things where you are excited about it, but you almost want to have things go your way and get it over it from a trainer's view of it. I'm excited. There is pressure, but it's good to be in position to have that pressure on you. It means you're in a good spot.”

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Another potential starter for the Travers is Juddmonte's Grade 1 Haskell-winner Mandaloun, who could also target the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on September 25 at Parx.

Mandaloun ran second in the Kentucky Derby, a half-length back to Medina Spirit, before winning the Pegasus on June 13 at Monmouth. Running back a month later, the Into Mischief colt crossed the wire second to Hot Rod Charlie in the 1 1/8-mile Haskell but was elevated to first when Hot Rod Charlie was disqualified for interference.

“We'll probably make a decision next week but I can tell you, the horse really came out of the Haskell in good order,” Cox said. “He's been training over here on the Oklahoma [training track] and I'm really happy with the way he's moving. He looks tremendous and has really put on weight since the Haskell. He's recovered well and very sound and we're in a good spot. We're happy with him.”

Mandaloun has posted a 2-2-1 record in six starts this year.

“The horse has run six times this year and I think we'd be five weeks between the Haskell and Travers,” Cox said. “We'd like to get to the Breeders' Cup somehow, and that doesn't mean we can't get there through the Travers, but he's a horse that we want to try to map out the schedule that makes the most sense for him. Essential Quality has already run the four times and he doesn't have as many miles on him this year, and that'll play a big role in what we do.”

Juddmonte homebred Snow House stepped up to stakes company for the first time with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Dwyer going a one-turn mile last out on July 5 at Belmont and will now contest a stakes going two turns as part of a seven-horse field in Friday's nine-furlong $120,000 Curlin for 3-year-olds at the Spa.

The Twirling Candy colt made his debut with a fourth-place finish on the Fair Grounds turf in March before breaking his maiden in April at Keeneland in a one-mile off-the-turf contest. Following another main track win over the Churchill main track in May, Cox elevated Snow House to stakes company in the Dwyer, where he tied a personal-high 86 Beyer in a race won by First Captain.

“He wasn't the sharpest gate horse early on. He's not a real big horse, but once we ran him at Keeneland, it came off the turf, and he performed well and had plenty of time to recover from the maiden victory,” Cox said. “I thought he ran a really good race in the Dwyer. This will be his second start around two turns, so I feel it could be an advantage getting him around two turns. I think he can handle it.

“He didn't get started until March, so he's been pretty straightforward,” he added.

Arklow is also a possibility to run on Travers Day, with the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/2 miles on the turf a possibility for the 7-year-old son of Arch. Arklow ran sixth in the Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth going 1 3/8 miles after clipping heels.
Cox said Arklow is also acclimating well to Saratoga as he readies for his next start.

“He's great. He's here; he stumbled enough to cost him a placing at Monmouth but he recovered well and the Sword Dancer is a possibility for him later in the meet,” Cox said. “He's doing really well.”

Owned by Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger and the Estate of Peter Coneway, Arklow ended his 2020 campaign with a victory in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup in November at Del Mar. Following a six-month freshening, he made a triumphant seasonal debut with a win in the Grade 3 Louisville going 1 1/2 miles on the Churchill turf in May before the United Nations effort. Arklow is 9-7-2 in 33 lifetime starts with earnings of more than $2.75 million.

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Essential Quality To Face Five Rivals In Saturday’s Jim Dandy

The top contenders in the 3-year-old division usually sojourn to Saratoga Race Course in August for the Travers. But top-caliber sophomores will be competing at the historic racetrack in July, with Saturday's Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy attracting a talented six-horse field headlined by Belmont Stakes-winner Essential Quality.

The 58th running of the Jim Dandy, contested at 1 1/8 miles, is slated as Race 9 and is one of three graded stakes on Saturday's 11-race card, joining the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs in Race 8 and the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green for 4-year-olds and up going 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf in Race 10.

The Jim Dandy, a prep race for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers at 1 1/4 miles on August 28, will mark the Saratoga debut of Godolphin's Essential Quality. The reigning Champion 2-Year-Old for trainer Brad Cox has already proved he was more than a talented juvenile, starting his sophomore campaign with wins in the Grade 3 Southwest and Grade 2 Blue Grass while on the Kentucky Derby trail this spring.

Following a competitive fourth in the “Run for the Roses” on May 1 in which he earned his first triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure, Essential Quality outdueled Hot Rod Charlie to post a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 5 at the Triple Crown race's famed 1 1/2-mile distance. The Tapit colt earned Cox his first career win in an American Classic and has registered three works at Saratoga since shipping from Churchill earlier this month.

“He likes it up here big time,” Cox said. “We take him out in the afternoons when it's not raining and let him graze. He's a lawnmower. He's real focused here. He's doing well.”

Essential Quality earned a 109 Beyer for his Belmont win and has posted six wins in seven career starts, with five of those victories in graded stakes, encompassing three winner's circle trips in Grade 1s after winning the Breeders' Futurity in his second career start in October at Keeneland before winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile over the same track in November to close out his 2020 award-winning campaign.

“I'm very anxious to see him race again just for the simple fact of how he's training and how he's filling out,” Cox said. “He's a very intelligent horse. He's been wanting to do more. He came out of last work great. He's been very sharp and his energy has been great. The cooler weather is playing a role in that. But he's ready to run. I'm very excited.”

Jockey Luis Saez, aboard for all six of Essential Quality's stakes races, will have the return call from post 5.

Chiefswood Stables' Weyburn, a resurgent winner of the Grade 3 Gotham going a one-turn mile in March at Aqueduct Racetrack, will be making his first start since running a game second to Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun by a neck in the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus on June 13 at Monmouth Park.

The Jimmy Jerkens trainee's lone off-the-board finish in five starts since his debut in October was a fourth-place effort in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino in April going the Jim Dandy distance at the Big A.

Weyburn has worked three times at Saratoga this month since shipping from Belmont and will look to again show a competitiveness that has seen him demonstrate marked tenacity in the stretch run.

“He's a big dude; big and long,” Jerkens said. “He's a massive horse. When they come back fighting like that, that's what you want.”

After stepping up to two turns the last two races, Jerkens said Weyburn is learning how to navigate the longer distances.

“He still acts like he's a little confused by two-turn racing,” Jerkens said. “He breaks on his own and then gets on the bridle and then he was a little keen down the backside [in the Pegasus]. The pacesetter [Lugamo] stopped abruptly and he ended up on the lead by himself, and he looked like he spit the bit out a little bit Mandaloun made a big, sweeping move past him and then he went after him again. He did that in the Gotham, when he lost the lead, he came back on. I guess it's like a little game with him.

“I think the last race did him a lot of good,” Jerkens added. “His only two-turn race before that was the Wood Memorial and there was a big gap from that race. He should get better with more seasoning.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr., the defending three-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey, will ride Weyburn for the first time, drawing post 3.

“Irad is going to have to figure it out. He's got enough natural speed to where you can pretty much put him wherever you want,” Jerkens said. “I just hope instead of running spotty like that, l just hope he runs a little more even all the way and still has it for the end.”

Harrell Ventures' Dr Jack was third in his stakes debut in the Pegasus and will now step up to graded stakes company for the first time. Dr Jack's conditioner is Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Jim Dandy six times, with his last victory with Palace Malice in 2013.

Dr Jack won his debut going 6 1/2 furlongs in April at Gulfstream Park and handled a stretch out to 1 1/16 miles by posting a three-length victory on May 14 at Pimlico. After competing in the Pegasus last month, the son of Pioneerof the Nile will again face talented competition, drawing post 1 with Jose Ortiz aboard.

“He's lightly raced, but he was able to break his maiden first time out and step up into an allowance,” Pletcher said. “I thought he ran a respectable race in the Pegasus and certainly Mandaloun coming back to win the Haskell makes that look to be a good race. It looks like a very competitive field, but not a large field, so we'll take a shot.”

Pletcher said Dr Jack, after facing a string of more seasoned horses, is looking to continue the improvement he's shown throughout his first three starts.

“For his third start and his first try in a stakes, to be beaten a little more than two lengths to a horse like Mandaloun, who has been through a good series of Derby preps, it was a tall ask and he ran credibly,” Pletcher said.

FTGGG Racing's Masqueparade handled the step up to stakes company with aplomb last out, posting a half-length win in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby going 1 1/8 miles at Thistledown on June 26. The Upstart colt has improved his speed figures in four consecutive starts, going from a 74 for a third-place maiden finish in February at Fair Grounds to a 98 for his last-out graded win.

Trainer Al Stall, Jr. said Masqueparade earned an opportunity to compete against the division's upper echelon.

“Our horse is on the upswing, so if he keeps improving, he could be there or thereabouts. He deserves a shot,” Stall said. “His last two races have been very good and he handled graded competition. The numbers are fine but stepping up to those proven competitors is more a test to me than running against the clock. I think he deserves a chance.”

Miguel Mena will ride from post 2.

Klaravich Stables' Risk Taking will be running for the first time since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Preakness on May 15. After starting his sophomore campaign with a 3 3/4-length win in the Grade 3 Gotham in March at Aqueduct, Risk Taking will be competing at Saratoga for the first time.

Risk Taking, trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, ran a dull seventh in the Wood Memorial before the off-the-board Preakness effort in a 10-horse field. The Medaglia d'Oro colt has won twice in three starts at the Jim Dandy distance and will look to use that to his advantage with Manny Franco set to ride out of post 6.

Keepmeinmind competed in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, running seventh in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness, before garnering a 97 Beyer for a third-place finish in the Ohio Derby. Owned by Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm, the Laoban colt earned black type in two Grade 1s as a 2-year-old, running second in the Breeders' Futurity and third, two lengths back to Essential Quality, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Joel Rosario will be in the irons from post 4.

Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Weyburn, Rocketry Breeze Ahead Of Saratoga Stakes Tries

Chiefswood Stables homebred Weyburn worked a bullet five-eighths in :59.40 in company Saturday on the Saratoga main track in preparation for next Saturday's $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy, a nine-furlong test for sophomores.

“We wanted him to go good. I hope it wasn't too fast, but he seemed to handle it really well,” Jerkens said. “He went by the workmate once they passed the quarter pole and galloped out on his own. He had a target in the first part of the work, which is why he probably went so fast.”

Saturday's breeze by the Ontario-bred son of Pioneerof the Nile followed a bullet five-eighths in 1:00.60 on July 16 over the Spa main track.

“We weren't planning on doing that, but the weather was creeping up on us. We gave him a work and the track was heavy and he worked good and he was blowing pretty hard,” Jerkens said. “That work really tightened him up and the work yesterday was no problem at all.”

Centennial Farms' multiple graded stakes winner Rocketry breezed six furlongs in 1:17.70 Saturday on the Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for the $120,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile test for older horses on August 5.

“It was a nice long work,” Jerkens said. “We're going to come back and work him in company before he runs.”

The 7-year-old Hard Spun bay was off-the-board last out in the 12-furlong Grade 1 Brooklyn, which was won by emerging marathon star Lone Rock.

Jerkens said he is hopeful that the added distance will suit Rocketry, whose last win came three starts back in the 1 5/8-mile Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

“That one horse [Lone Rock] looks like a standout in that category. If ever he's going to beat horses like that, it's going that distance,” Jerkens said. “That's what happened in Kentucky. The pace was just too sharp for going that far and they came back to him and he went by them in the very end.”

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