Dynalympic fits well in Mac Diarmida

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In Rush Bay, the Churchill Downs-based trainer Tom Amoss has a horse that can win the Stars and Stripes Handicap next month at Arlington Park, and in Dynalympic, Amoss has a horse that can win Arlington's prep race for the Stars and Stripes.

was one of 10 entered in Saturday's $40,000 Mac Diarmida, which, like the Stars and Stripes, is carded for 1 1/2 miles on turf. And while Rush Bay, winner of the Opening Verse last weekend at Churchill, has the look of a top-class grass horse, Dynalympic suits the overnight-stakes class Mac Diarmida. Proven at 1 1/2 miles and winner of a third-level Keeneland allowance at the distance two starts ago, Dynalympic exits a seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Elkhorn Stakes - but though Dynalympic beat only four in the Elkhorn, he had a troubled trip in a false-paced race and finished only around two lengths behind the winner, Pellegrino.

Among the competition on Saturday are the full brothers , 5, with the latter the more obvious contender. Come on Jazz was one of two entered in the Mac Diarmida by trainer Brian Williamson, who as of Thursday morning wasn't entirely certain how he would play his hand.

Come on Jazz looks like a major contender, but would be running back on less than two weeks' rest, while Williamson's other entrant, the sharp Air Academy, is much more a dirt horse than turf.

"I have nowhere else to run him," Williamson said. "I'd like to keep him on dirt, but there's nothing for him right now, so I might have to run both."

Come on Jazz worked an easy half-mile Wednesday, and was a handful around the barn Thursday morning, a sign that he bounced out of a fourth-place finish in the May 29 Mister Gus in good shape. But Williamson still is somewhat skeptical of bringing Come on Jazz back into action so quickly.

"I could still scratch him," he said.

Come on Jazz fell victim to a slow pace and a speed-favoring turf course in the Mister Gus, his first start in 2006, and should be ready to begin building on the form he showed last year. Come on Jazz won only twice but performed consistently throughout last season, finishing second to the good turf horse Cloudy's Knight in a 1 1/2-mile overnight turf stakes late last summer.

"He was fighting some ankle problems last year, but he still ran good," Williamson said. "His ankles look good right now."

Don'tbotherknocking would contend with a return to his excellent 2005 form, but hasn't shown his best in three starts this season, and may opt to stay home for a stakes race at Canterbury on Saturday.