SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Coming off the best race he’s run to date with the added benefit of it coming over this track and at this distance, Jefferson Street looks the one to beat in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga. A son of Street Sense owned and bred by Godolphin Racing and trained by Bill Mott, Jefferson Street took advantage of a nice setup to gallop to an eight-length victory in a first-level allowance race here June 7. He ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.96 and earned a career-best and field-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure. “He’s coming off a good race on this racetrack,” Mott said. The race before that was pretty good as well. On May 4 at Churchill Downs, Jefferson Street finished third in a first-level allowance race that produced two other next-out winners aside from Jefferson Street. Raging Torrent, who won that race, duplicated his effort in winning the Maxfield Stakes on June 30 at Churchill. Jefferson Street breaks from post 4 under Junior Alvarado. Steve Asmussen has won the Amsterdam six times, twice with horses owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt. Friday, Asmussen and the Heiligbrodts send out Valentine Candy, the most accomplished runner in the field with three listed stakes wins. Valentine Candy is coming off a fifth-place finish behind Book’em Danno in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on a day where he was wide and the place to be was the inside. :: Gain a competitive edge at Saratoga with DRF's premier handicapping data — purchase our meet packages today and bet with confidence. “He was fifth in a Grade 1 but he did not have the trip that would be required to win a Grade 1,” Asmussen said. In looking at the field, Asmussen said, “fast horses in the race, but he’s pretty accomplished in comparison. But they definitely have fast races to go to.” Joel Rosario rides Valentine Candy from post 4. Pure Force is 2 for 2 and makes his stakes debut for Juddmonte Farms and trainer Brad Cox. While Jefferson Street was third in race 13 on the May 4 Kentucky Derby Day card at Churchill, Pure Force, 9 1/2 hours earlier, won the first race on the card. His 2 1/4-length victory is flattered by the fact that three of his rivals came back to win their next starts. Pure Force also came back to win, taking a first-level allowance race in front-running fashion by five lengths on June 19. “I do feel he’s a horse that’s gotten a little better throughout the spring and into the summer,” Cox said. “He’s a very good gate horse, that could play a big role in where we sit on Friday.” Florent Geroux rides from post 3. World Record, a 6 1/4-length maiden winner at Churchill in his second start, finished third behind Raging Torrent in the Maxfield. He breaks from the rail under Flavien Prat. Donegal Momentum was an 8 1/4-length winner of his debut on May 16 at Aqueduct when he earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Though he came back and ran a 93 in a first-level allowance on June 27, it was only good enough for second. With only five horses, the Amsterdam goes as race 3 (2:18 p.m.) on Friday’s 10-race card that begins at 1:10 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.