It's on to Travers for Jim Dandy top three

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Wicked Strong, Tonalist and Kid Cruz - the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes - all came out of the race in relatively good order and all will be pointed to the $1.25 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 23, their connections said Sunday morning.

Beginning in 2005, the Jim Dandy has produced seven Travers winners. Wicked Strong will try to join the likes of Flower Alley (2005), Bernardini (2006), Street Sense (2007), Stay Thirsty (2011), and Alpha (dead heat for Travers win in 2012) who pulled off the Jim Dandy-Travers double.

Tonalist, the Belmont Stakes winner, will try to duplicate what Will Take Charge did last year by winning the Travers after finishing second in the Jim Dandy. Kid Cruz will try to join Afleet Express, who finished third in the 2010 Jim Dandy and then won the Travers.

Afleet Express was trained by Jimmy Jerkens, who is the trainer of Wicked Strong. Jerkens was rewarded for his decision to put blinkers on Wicked Strong with a more professional performance on Saturday after the colt finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (a dead heat with California Chrome).

“Looked like he was all business,” Jerkens said Sunday morning. “No stopping and starting, ducking and diving.”

Wicked Strong, who came from off the pace to win the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in April, showed a new dimension in blinkers by pressing the pace in the Jim Dandy. Jerkens believes Wicked Strong has the right mix of speed and stamina that will make him effective at the Travers distance of 1 1/4 miles.

“He’s got good stamina," Jerkens said. "You’d like him as good as anybody else in there, I would think, with all he’s been through. He’s already been the distance - he’s been further. He’s shown speed. He’s versatile.”

Wicked Strong, who beat Tonalist by 2 1/4 lengths, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.16 and earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Trainer Christophe Clement said Tonalist had a bit of a wide trip in the Jim Dandy, and credited Wicked Strong’s jockey, Rajiv Maragh, for riding “a very good race,” which included floating Tonalist out a few paths at the top of the stretch.

Clement said Tonalist came back “a touch stiff, but not too bad” and he plans on giving him two breezes prior to the Travers.
“I thought Tonalist ran a good race," Clement said. "He came, made his move, and he flattened out a touch. I always thought the Jim Dandy was a prep race for the Travers.”

Kid Cruz, beaten six lengths, re-rallied to finish third in the Jim Dandy after having what trainer Linda Rice called “an ugly trip.”

Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Kid Cruz was up close and three wide entering the first turn, dropped back to next-to-last while three to four wide down the backstretch, and was actually last at the five-sixteenths pole before coming five wide in the stretch to get third.

“It was an ugly trip for Kid Cruz, but to his credit he gathered himself back up and made a run at the end of it,” Rice said. “He was running through the wire. I was pleased with that. Down the backside I thought, ‘Oh boy, we’re in trouble.’ I think it was a good enough effort on the horse’s part to bring him back to the Travers, and that’s what we really wanted.”

Commanding Curve, who finished fourth in the Jim Dandy under Shaun Bridgmohan, is possible for the Travers, trainer Dallas Stewart said.

”We have to train him and see,” Stewart said. “He made a good run coming off the turn, Shaun thought maybe he got a touch tired, which is possible, but he came back good.”

Also pointing for the Travers are V.E. Day - also trained by Jerkens - and Charge Now, the one-two finishers in Friday’s Curlin Stakes, and possibly Mr Speaker, a graded stakes winner on turf and synthetic for trainer Shug McGaughey.

Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park could potentially yield a Travers starter or two.