Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing work for Jim Dandy clash

ELMONT, N.Y. – Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming returned to the work tab Saturday, breezing a half-mile in 49.96 seconds at Belmont Park as he prepares for a likely start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 29 and an expected meeting with Preakness winner Cloud Computing.

For Always Dreaming, Saturday’s move was his first since his eighth-place finish in the Preakness. Trainer Todd Pletcher said that while the Jim Dandy is “not etched in stone,” it is a race the colt’s owners seem to prefer over the Haskell Invitational, a $1 million race at Monmouth Park on July 30, as a way to get to the Travers on Aug. 26.

Always Dreaming worked on the Belmont training track following the 9:30 a.m. renovation break. Working by himself under exercise rider Hector Ramos, Always Dreaming went his first eighth in 13.04 seconds, the quarter in 25.15, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:04.00 and six furlongs in 1:17.54.

“I thought he looked good, moving well, relaxed,” said Pletcher, who noted that the training track was not particularly fast Saturday morning. “He’s maintained his fitness level very, very well. Very pleased.”

Pletcher said Always Dreaming was tired after the Preakness, and “it took him a little while to come back to himself.” Pletcher had considered working Always Dreaming one week prior to Saturday’s breeze but decided to wait.

“We decided four breezes would hopefully get him there, and based on what we saw this morning, I think that would be the case,” Pletcher said.

Always Dreaming had been aggressive in his morning training prior to the Derby, to the point where Pletcher had to equip him with draw reins. The horse has not trained in draw reins since the Preakness.

Always Dreaming was one of several 3-year-olds who breezed Saturday at Belmont on the first day of the second half of the year.

Cloud Computing worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 over the main track and is on schedule for the Jim Dandy, according to trainer Chad Brown. Cloud Computing went his first three furlongs in 37.15 seconds and his last quarter in 24.65. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.71.

It was Cloud Computing’s third breeze since he won the Preakness by a head over Classic Empire.

“Today, we picked it up more with a solid five-eighths with a good gallop-out,” Brown said.

Early in the morning, Brown’s 3-year-olds Timeline and Practical Joke went a half-mile in company in 48.84 seconds over the main track. It was Timeline’s first work since he won the Pegasus at Monmouth Park on June 18 and sustained some cuts. Brown said the colt is fine and is on schedule for the Haskell.

Practical Joke, fifth in the Kentucky Derby, is targeting next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont.

Practical Joke will take on the Pletcher-trained Battalion Runner in the Dwyer. Battalion Runner, unraced since a second-place finish in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 8, worked five furlongs in 1:00.51 in company with Keen Ice on Saturday over the Belmont training track.

Keen Ice, who is pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban at Belmont, was most impressive on the gallop-out, going six furlongs in 1:14.41 and seven furlongs in 1:26.50.

Of Battalion Runner, Pletcher said: “I thought he worked well with a horse that’s always been a very good work horse and gallops out strong. I wouldn’t expect him to gallop out as strongly as Keen Ice did.”

Patch, third in the Belmont, worked four furlongs in 49.52 seconds, making up a length on Coal Front. Patch galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.81. Patch is eligible for several spots, including the Jim Dandy and Haskell.

Coal Front was targeting the Dwyer, but Pletcher said Saturday that the Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam at 6 1/2 furlongs on July 29 at Saratoga is a more likely target.

“It gives him a little more time off a very fast allowance race,” Pletcher said. “It’s at a distance he’s already won at and potentially gives him a race over the track in preparation for the Allen Jerkens. From a selfish standpoint, it keeps the two separated.”