Forte will skip Haskell, point to Jim Dandy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Forte, runner-up in the Belmont Stakes last month, will bypass the $1 million Haskell Stakes on July 22 at Monmouth Park and instead make his next start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes on July 29 at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday.

“Tough call,” Pletcher said. “There may or not may be a right answer. We just felt like shipping up here, getting a race over the track. The two Travers winners we’ve had have run in the Jim Dandy.”

Pletcher’s two Travers winners, Flower Alley (2005) and Stay Thirsty (2011), both won the Jim Dandy before capturing the Travers.

Forte raced at Saratoga twice as a 2-year-old. He finished fifth in the Grade 3 Sanford opening weekend of the 2022 meet and then finished first in the Grade 1 Hopeful on closing weekend. Forte tested positive for the banned substance meloxicam following the Hopeful, so that result is being contested.

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Forte, who won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park during the winter, missed the Kentucky Derby due to a bruised foot. Off a 10-week layoff, he finished a game second in the Belmont Stakes.

Forte has had two half-mile works since the Belmont Stakes. He was scheduled to work Friday at Saratoga.

Pletcher said Tapit Trice, the Grade 1 Blue Grass winner who finished third in the Belmont Stakes, was scheduled to work Saturday at Belmont Park. Should the work be satisfactory, he would make his next start in the Haskell.

Meanwhile, Pletcher said Kingsbarns, the Louisiana Derby winner who finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby, has been stopped on for the year. Kingsbarns was beaten a neck by Salute the Stars in the Pegasus Stakes on June 17 at Monmouth.

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“He just lost a little bit of weight, felt like he’d been going pretty steadily, so just going to give him some time off, some turn out. Probably get him back in training in the fall,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher did confirm that Gambling Girl, runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks, is on schedule for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. She has been training at Churchill Downs and was scheduled to have a final breeze there Friday before shipping to Saratoga on Monday.

Scylla to skip CCA Oaks

Scylla, impressive winner of her first two starts at Churchill Downs, is no longer under consideration for the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, trainer Bill Mott said Thursday.

“I’m not happy with the way she’s doing at the moment, so I’m just going to back off,” Mott said.

Scylla, a full sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Tacitus, won her debut going six furlongs by 2 1/4 lengths and then came back to win a first-level allowance by 8 1/4 lengths.

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