Bakken enters Vanderbilt with race under belt

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Chad Brown will have a longshot in Saturday’s main event when he runs Last Gunfighter in the $1.5 million Whitney Invitational. But he will have logical contenders in three of the other four stakes on the program.

In the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, Brown will send out the lightly raced Bakken in search of his first stakes victory against seven rivals, including the in-form sprinter Happy My Way.

Bakken, a 4-year-old son of Distorted Humor, won his first two starts impressively late in his 3-year-old season before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita in December. Coming off a six-month layoff, Bakken finished second, beaten three-quarters of a length, to Palace in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont on July 5. Palace is back in this field.

“Considering the layoff, I thought he ran terrific,” Brown said of Bakken’s race in the True North. “Looks like he fits in this race. I think he deserves a shot at a Grade 1. He’s lightly raced. When he does run, he’s run some brilliant races.”

Bakken will break from post 8 under Javier Castellano.

Palace, first or second in 14 of 19 career races, is the 119-pound highweight and will break from the rail.

Happy My Way, a winner of three consecutive races, drew post 5. Bahamian Squall, the runner-up in last year’s Vanderbilt, drew post 4.

The others entered were Capo Bastone, Falling Sky, Lemon Drop Dream, and Vyjack.