Jim Dandy | Horse Racing Free Tips

Spendthrift Keeps Options Open For GSW Kingsbarns

GII Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) remains a possibility for either the GII Jim Dandy July 29 at Saratoga Race Course or the previous week's GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park said Spendthrift Farm's general manager Ned Toffey.

“We're freshening him a little bit, keeping some options open,” Toffey said. “There's the Haskell and the Jim Dandy and we'll look at those, but we'll talk with [trainer] Todd [Pletcher] and just keep things open. Obviously, it gets pretty tough with fewer spots for these good 3-year-olds. You won't find too many soft spots. We still think he's a nice horse and he should move forward off his last race.”

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Brown Duo Tune Up for Jim Dandy

The Chad Brown-trained duo of GI Preakness S. winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) and GI Toyota Blue Grass S. hero Zandon (Upstart) each put in their final breezes Saturday at Saratoga for next week's GII Jim Dandy S. The former breezed in company with GII Amsterdam S.-bound Accretive (Practical Joke) and was credited with five panels in 1:01.05 (12/30), while the latter covered the same distance in 1:01.95 (22/30) by himself.

“Both horses did really well,” said Brown. Zandon went alone. It was a nice easy work for him. I was really pleased in how he was moving. With Early Voting, I did a little bit more with him today with a workmate. He went fabulous. I was very pleased. As long as they come out of the works well, I'll be happy.”

Zandon was last seen finishing third in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7. Early Voting, meanwhile, was last seen at Pimlico and had been working at Belmont Park before Saturday's breeze.

“We wanted to see how he was moving over the track,” Brown said. “He seems to be a pretty good horse in that way. It seems he takes his racetrack with him. I never see him train poorly, but it's always nice to get that out of the way and give him a work over the track to see that he's moving well.”

The D. Wayne Lukas-trained Ethereal Road (Quality Road) also worked Saturday at the Spa (4f in :49.72 {28/48} from the gate over the Oklahoma Training Track) and could go in either the Jim Dandy or the restricted Curlin S. one day earlier on Friday.

“We worked him out of the gate just to sharpen him up a little bit and find out where we're at,” Lukas said. “I was trying to get a little better reading on him. His effort was very good today. He went in 49 and change and he actually could have been better than that. I worked him with a 2-year-old colt (Track Mate {Union Rags}) and he kind of waited. It was a good work.”

Ethereal Road took the Sir Barton S. on Preakness day and most recently finished sixth in the GIII Ohio Derby June 25.

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Brown to Decide On Haskell or Jim Dandy for Early Voting After Saturday Work

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – With the $1.25 million GI Travers S. on Aug. 27 as his summer goal, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday morning that he is close to declaring what path his GI Preakness S. winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) will take to Saratoga's biggest race.

Brown has two options: send the colt to Monmouth Park to face unbeaten stablemate Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GI Haskell Invitational S. on July 23 or wait a week and race him against another stablemate, GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Zandon (Upstart) in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga.

“I'm going to work the horse on Saturday and I will decide after the work,” Brown said. “If he's going to run in the Jim Dandy then he's going to ship up here the next day. If he's going to run in the Haskell then he will stay at Belmont because it's closer to Monmouth. That's why I've left him there. I've got Jack Christopher down there, who is also going to work.”

While Brown committed Jack Christopher and Zandon to their pre-Travers races long ago, he has not been in a hurry to place Early Voting.

Brown said he wants to look at everything: “Who is running where? Make sure everyone is healthy and doing well. These fields might come together a little bit more, be a little more focused. Weather.”

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‘Quirky’ Weyburn Breezes Seven Furlongs In Preparation For Pennsylvania Derby

Chiefswood Stables' Weyburn, winner of the one-mile Grade 3 Gotham in March at Aqueduct Racetrack, breezed seven furlongs in 1:31.73 Friday on the Belmont training track in preparation for a start in next Saturday's nine-furlong Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Friday's breeze followed up on a bullet five-eighths in 59.63 last Friday on the training track.

“He did well. We just wanted to give him a little stamina today,” Jerkens said. “He worked really fast last week and we didn't want to do that again. I was happy with how he did it.”

The Ontario homebred son of Pioneerof the Nile finished fourth in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Wood Memorial in April at the Big A and followed two months later with a close second to Grade 1 Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun in the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus on June 13 at Monmouth.

Last out, the dark bay colt tracked the pace from third in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 31 at the Spa, but failed to make up ground in the stretch run finishing fourth.

Jerkens said Weyburn, a resurgent Gotham winner under Trevor McCarthy off a three-month layoff, is at his best racing fresh.

“He's got a lot of talent. He's just a little quirky,” Jerkens said. “His two best races – the Gotham and the Pegasus – he had two to three months between starts.”

Paco Lopez will pilot the quirky colt for the first time and Jerkens said the veteran rider will need to keep Weyburn to task.

“He wants to be forwardly placed and then you have to get after him. He'll spit the bit after he's run a long ways and you have to try and beat him to the punch a little bit,” Jerkens said. “Trevor kept riding him the whole time in the Gotham and he came back on. He can be stubborn switching to his outside lead but when he does, he comes back on again.”

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