Mo Plex works toward Jim Dandy
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mo Plex, the two-length winner of the Grade 3 Ohio Derby, is likely to make his next start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes here on July 26 rather than the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational a week earlier, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said.
“We’re leaning toward the Jim Dandy right now,” Englehart said. “Just race dynamics. Both races, you’re facing quality horses. We also get to stay here.”
Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, is expected to run in the Jim Dandy. Journalism, the Preakness winner, is expected to run in the Haskell.
Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard Mo Plex for Friday’s work, in which the colt appeared to be getting out past the wire. However, Englehart said Ortiz, in an attempt to slow Mo Plex down, “took a hold of him and was fighting him a little bit, but that’s kind of normal for him.”
Englehart said he is hoping to get Ortiz to ride Mo Plex in the Jim Dandy if he doesn’t have a previous commitment. Ortiz rode Hill Road in the Belmont Stakes, and Hill Road is expected for the Jim Dandy.