The Macho Uno colt will now point for the meet’s biggest race, the 139th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers presented by Shadwell Farm on Saturday, August 23. The last three Jim Dandy winners – Street Sense (2007), Bernardini (2006) and Flower Alley (2005) – went on to win the Travers, the 1 ¼-mile “Mid-Summer Derby” that is the nation’s oldest stakes race for three-year-olds.
It helped Macho Again that there was a serious pace in the Jim Dandy. Unlike the Belmont Stakes back on June 7, when Da’Tara was able to steal the race on the lead and ruin the Triple Crown hopes of Big Brown, Da’Tara was hooked from the start by Mint Lane.
The track was listed as good after an afternoon shower, and while Da’Tara out-ran Mint Lane to the first turn, the two quickly hooked up after a first quarter of a mile in 23.51. The half went in 46.94, and Mint Lane began to pull away after three quarters went in 1:11.82.
The speed duel had taken its toll on Mint Lane, and entering the stretch, he surrendered the lead to Tale of Ekati. The Grade 1 Wood Memorial winner, however, had been pinched at the start, steadied and forced to race in midpack earlier and he began to feel the effects of the trip. He tired inside the quarter-pole as Macho Again kicked on. He looked in control, but suddenly Pyro appeared with an outside run.
“(Macho Again) had a tough go from the quarter-pole on,” Stewart said. “Once he got free and kicked on, it looked like he was going to win – and here comes Pyro with that late run. And Pyro is a good horse, as you know.”
Fortunately for Macho Again, he had enough of a lead as he reached the finish line in 1:51.16.
“He’s game,” said winning jockey Julien Leparoux. “The race before, he had a rough trip. He’s been coming out. Today, he ran very good off the layoff. I had to go outside in the stretch and he finished very good.
“When I won the Derby Trial and when I finished second in the Preakness, he was game and he was really good. He’s not much different; he hasn’t changed too much. He is still just a game horse. He tries all the time.”
Macho Again paid $18.40 to win, as the baseball cap giveaway crowd of 38,748 made Pyro its favorite.
Checking in third, three-quarters of a length behind Pyro, was Tiz Now Tiz Then, who gained valuable experience in his first graded stakes test, even though his three-race win streak was halted.
“I thought it was a nice, third-place finish,” said trainer Eoin Harty. “Certainly, we would have liked to win it. He keeps improving. I thought the rider (Miguel Mena) did a good job for his first time at Saratoga. There is certainly a possibility that we will be back for the Travers.”
Talk of Ekati was fourth, followed by Anak Nakal, Mint Lane and Da’Tara.
“That was a suicide mission,” said trainer Nick Zito, who hoped the Jim Dandy would encourage him to run in the Travers. “It didn’t work. I don’t know what that was all about.”
Alaazo was scratched.
JIM DANDY QUOTES
Winning trainer Dallas Stewart of Macho Again (No. 7): “This is my first stakes win as a trainer at Saratoga, so I am very excited. He’s a good horse, but he needed to step up. The pace was beautiful; he’s a stalker. The Travers would be great if he comes out of this good and everything is good.
‘I feel blessed to train for West Point. They are wonderful people and he is a wonderful horse. He had a tough go from the quarter-pole on. Once he got free and kicked on, it looked like he was going to win – and here comes Pyro with that late run. And Pyro is a good horse, as you know.”
Winning jockey Julien Leparoux: “He’s game. The race before, he had a rough trip. He’s been coming out. Today, he ran very good off the layoff. I had to go outside in the stretch and he finished very good.
“When I won the Derby Trial and when I finished second in the Preakness, he was game and he was really good. He’s not much different; he hasn’t changed too much. He is still just a game horse. He tries all the time.”
Steve Asmussen, trainer of runner-up and beaten favorite Pyro (No. 4): “We finished second. There is nothing more I can say. Go talk to the winner.”
Shaun Bridgmohan, jockey of Pyro: “I thought I had a good trip. He ran hard.”
Eoin Harty, trainer of third-place finisher Tin Now Tiz Then (No. 1): “I thought it was a nice, third-place finish. Certainly, we would have liked to win it. He keeps improving. I thought the rider (Miguel Mena) did a good job for his first time at Saratoga. There is certainly a possibility that we will be back for the Travers.”
Nick Zito, trainer of seventh-place finisher and Belmont Stakes winner Da’Tara (No. 6): “That was a suicide mission. It didn’t work. I don’t know what that was all about.”