Global Campaign, Tax drill for Jim Dandy Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While there were no races held Saturday afternoon at Saratoga, there was plenty of action Saturday morning, with 134 horses putting in timed workouts over the main and Oklahoma training tracks. Training hours were altered to 5 to 9:30 a.m. to try to avoid the heat that prompted Saturday afternoon’s cancellation.

Among the notable workers were Global Campaign and Tax, both pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes here.

Global Campaign, the winner of the Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont Park on May 11, worked five furlongs in 1:01.38 over the Oklahoma training track shortly before 6 a.m. With regular rider Luis Saez aboard, Global Campaign went in splits of 12.66 seconds, 24.70, 36.66 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.73.

“I thought he went great,” trainer Stanley Hough said. “He really had a lot of horse left. Saez really liked the way he worked. I just wanted to get the work in. I was going to work him with a lead horse, but when it was so hot, I just decided to let him work on his own.”

Global Campaign has had issues with his left front foot since winning the Peter Pan. But Saturday was his third work at Saratoga and his second straight since having glue-on shoes put on. Hough said Global Campaign worked July 5 with a plate to protect the area known as the frog on his left front foot. On July 12, the plate was removed and Global Campaign was equipped with glue-on shoes that he wore in a July 13 work and again Saturday.

Hough also worked Recruiting Ready, who went five furlongs in 1:00.30 about 20 minutes before Global Campaign worked. Recruiting Ready, beaten a half-length when third to Catalina Cruiser in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont on June 7, will run in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar next Saturday. Hough prefers the Bing Crosby to the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga due to the presence of Mitole, a winner of seven straight races, including two Grade 1 stakes, in the Vanderbilt.

“I think it’s a better spot for us,” Hough, who trains privately for Sagamore Farm, said of the Bing Crosby for Recruiting Ready.

:: Get PPs, Clocker Reports, picks, and more from DRF's Saratoga/Del Mar One-Stop Shop

Shortly after 7:45 a.m. – an earlier renovation break than usual on the main track – Tax worked a half-mile in 47.09 seconds, the fastest of 70 moves at the distance. Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Tax began his work three lengths behind workmate Deja Raconte. Tax, fourth in the Belmont Stakes, got his last quarter in 23.80 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.20.

Trainer Danny Gargan continues to say that Tax is “better right now than he’s ever been.”

While Gargan expects Tax to be forwardly placed in the Jim Dandy, he said he put him behind Deja Raconte, an unraced 3-year-old New York-bred filly, because “she’s really fast, and I didn’t want him to go in 46. If he had latched onto her, they would have gone really fast.”

Other notable workers Saturday were Dunbar Road, the Grade 2 Mother Goose winner, who went a half-mile in 48.87 seconds in company with Magic Star. Dunbar Road is preparing for the Alabama on Aug. 17. Henley’s Joy, the Belmont Derby winner, worked an easy half-mile in 53.19 seconds in preparation for the $1 million Saratoga Derby on Aug. 4.