NEWS
Fly Down, Winslow Homer to meet in Jim Dandy
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 4:12 PM
FLY DOWN
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Steve Bailey
Belmont Stakes (G1) runner-up Fly Down and Grade 3 winner Winslow Homer headline a field of nine three-year-olds entered in the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
Richard Pell’s Fly Down beat Drosselmeyer by six lengths in the Dwyer Stakes (G2) on May 8 at Belmont Park before running second by three-quarters of a length to that foe in the last leg of the Triple Crown on June 5.
The chestnut Mineshaft colt enters the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy, the traditional Saratoga prep race for the Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1), with three wins, a second-, and a third-place finish from six starts and earnings of $382,070 for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito.
Fox Hill Farms’ Winslow Homer won the final two starts of his two-year-old season to emerge as a promising player on the Triple Crown trail. The gray or roan Unbridled’s Song colt moved another step forward with a victory in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) on January 3 at Gulfstream Park.
About a week after the victory, however, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right front cannon bone and underwent surgery to repair the injury at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington. Upon returning to trainer Tony Dutrow’s barn in April, he finished third behind Concord Point in the Iowa Derby (G3) on June 26 at Prairie Meadows Racetrack in his first start in five months.
Edward P. Evans’ homebred A Little Warm, also trained by Dutrow, opened his season with a victory in the Spectacular Bid Stakes on January 9 at Gulfstream prior to a pair of runner-up finishes in the Hutcheson Stakes (G2) on February 20, also at Gulfstream, and the Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 27 at Fair Grounds.
Scheduled to run in the Preakness Stakes (G1), the bay Stormin Fever colt was withdrawn from consideration about a week before the race after an unsatisfactory endoscopic examination. He enters the Jim Dandy off a clear win in an optional claiming race on June 29 at Delaware Park.
Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite enters off his first victory of the season in a one-mile allowance race on June 19 at Belmont.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, the Yes It’s True colt, who placed in a pair of Grade 1 races last season as a two-year-old, finished second in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial Stakes (G3) on April 24 at Churchill Downs prior to a tenth-place finish in the Preakness on May 15 at Pimlico Race Course.
European maiden winner Steinbeck (Ire) will make his North American debut for owners Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor and trainer Aidan O’Brien.
The bay Footstepsinthesand colt ran in three consecutive European Group 1 races between October and June and enters off a second-place finish in the Jockey Club of Turkey Meld Stakes (Ire-G3) in July 22 at Leopardstown.
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
July 31, $500,000, 3yo, 1 1/8M, Saratoga Race Course, 5:48 PM ET
| Post |
Horse |
Sire |
Weight |
Jockey |
Trainer |
| 1 |
Steinbeck (IRE) 3, c. |
Footstepsinthesand (GB) |
115 |
Garrett Gomez |
Aidan O'Brien |
| 2 |
Afleet Express 3, c. |
Afleet Alex |
119 |
Javier Castellano |
James Jerkens |
| 3 |
Stormy's Majesty 3, c. |
Stormy Atlantic |
115 |
Edgar Prado |
Dominic Galluscio |
| 4 |
Aikenite 3, c. |
Yes It's True |
115 |
David Cohen |
Todd Pletcher |
| 5 |
A Little Warm 3, c. |
Stormin Fever |
115 |
John Velazquez |
Anthony Dutrow |
| 6 |
Miner's Reserve 3, c. |
Mineshaft |
115 |
Calvin Borel |
Nicholas Zito |
| 7 |
Winslow Homer 3, c. |
Unbridled's Song |
119 |
Ramon Dominguez |
Anthony Dutrow |
| 8 |
Friend Or Foe 3, c. |
Friends Lake |
115 |
Rajiv Maragh |
John Kimmel |
| 9 |
Fly Down 3, c. |
Mineshaft |
121 |
Jose Lezcano |
Nicholas Zito |
