Jamaica looks like fall rerun

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Grade 2, $300,000 Jamaica Handicap on Saturday at Belmont Park will have a familiar feel.

Four of the seven runners in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds come out of the Grade 3 Saranac Stakes at Saratoga, including the first three finishers: Jambalaya, Silver Whistle, and Woodlander.

earned the win by a hard-fought nose over Silver Whistle at the end of a prolonged stretch battle.

The victory, the first away from Woodbine for him, extended Jambalaya's winning streak to four. "He has got a really tremendous turn of foot when he gets it going," said Todd Phillips, husband of and assistant to trainer Catherine Day Phillips. "In the Saranac, Silver Whistle came around the turn and caught him a little off guard. Jambalaya had the kick to match it so that Silver Whistle didn't get the jump on him.''

, unbeaten in two starts at Belmont, keeps knocking on the door in graded stakes. The nose loss in the Saranac was preceded by another nose defeat in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.

The return to Belmont could also aid . He won three straight turf races here, including the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes, before heading north for the Saranac.

"He's training well coming up to this race," said trainer Tom Albertrani. "He has been pretty consistent throughout the summer."

The Saranac did not unfold the way Albertrani had hoped as Woodlander "was in a little tight down the backside and he lacked some room," Albertrani said.

"He managed to finish well in third. He was a little unlucky, I thought."

T.D. Vance has won two in a row, including the Hall of Fame last time out.

Fishy Advice returns on relatively short rest for trainer Dave Donk. He missed by only a neck in the Subordination Stakes on Sept. 23 in a trouble-filled race.

"Javier [Castellano] had to check up behind another horse and he lost his left rein," Donk said. "He lost his balance and almost fell off."

Chestertown Slew, sixth in the Saranac, and Rebel Rebel, making his first start since finishing third in the Virginia Derby on July 16, are also entered.

- additional reporting by David Grening