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A Little Warm delivers scorcher in Jim Dandy

Posted: Saturday, July 31, 2010 6:09 PM

A LITTLE WARM

PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times

To view the Jim Dandy Stakes, click here.

by Mike Curry

A Little Warm was knocking on the door of a breakthrough graded stakes win during the first half of his three-year-old campaign, and he burst through in a big way in the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.

The Stormin Fever colt stalked a swift pace set by Miner’s Reserve in the 1 1/8-mile race and outdueled that foe in the stretch for a 1 3/4-length win for trainer Tony Dutrow and owner-breeder Edward P. Evans.

“I felt strongly he was going to run a terrific race, but I didn’t know if that was going to be good enough to win,” Dutrow said. “We work so hard with these animals, and when you achieve a race like this, it’s bigger than life.”

A Little Warm covered 1 1/8 miles on a track rated as fast in 1:47.98, less than a second off the stakes record of 1:47.26 set by Louis Quatorze in 1996. A Little Warm improved to four wins and four seconds from nine starts and secured his first graded stakes win after finishing second in both the Hutcheson Stakes (G2) in February and the Louisiana Derby (G2) in March.

A Little Warm, winner of the Spectacular Bid Stakes in January to open the year, broke alertly and settled in second under John Velazquez while Miner’s Reserve controlled the pace through an opening quarter in :23.32 and a half-mile in :46.80. A Little Warm accelerated to challenge the pacesetter on the final turn, and the two leaders edged away from the rest of the field with a quarter-mile remaining.

Miner’s Reserve dug in gamely in early stretch but eventually gave way as A Little Warm would not be denied in the final furlong.

A Little Warm boosted his bankroll to $608,880. In his seven most recent starts, he has posted four wins and three seconds and now figures to be a leading contender for the Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1) on August 28 at Saratoga.

“Absolutely,” Dutrow said of the 1 1/4-mile Travers. “If he comes out of this race great, count us in.”

A Little Warm entered off a 2 1/4-length win over Miner’s Reserve in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race on June 29 at Delaware Park.

“He ran the way we wanted him to run at Delaware last time, and my feeling was that he was not 100% for that race,” Dutrow said. “When we came up here to Saratoga shortly after that race, he really went over the moon. He loved the racetrack. I told Johnny [Velazquez] to ride him with confidence.”

“You can place him wherever you want and let the speed go,” Velazquez said. “When you ask him, he’s there for you. That’s what I like about him. I don’t think he’ll have a problem [with a mile and a quarter] if he rates like he did today.”

Miner’s Reserve finished second, three-quarters of a length in front of Pegasus Stakes (G3) winner Afleet Express in the eight-horse field.

“Miner’s Reserve is a good horse,” trainer Nick Zito said. “He ran well down in Delaware to [A Little Warm] in his last race, so Delaware has a good allowance race, I guess.”

Belmont Stakes (G1) runner-up Fly Down trailed early and never threatened while finishing fifth. The Dwyer Stakes (G2) winner was sent off as the 1.95-to-1 favorite.

“Throw out that race, I guess,” said Zito, who also trains Fly Down. “[Fly Down] just didn’t fire. [Jockey] Jose [Lezcano] said he didn’t give him what he usually gives him. Hopefully, he comes back well and we’ll try to regroup for the next race.”

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor