Rombauer headed to Saratoga for Jim Dandy or Saratoga Derby
Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer is likely bound for Saratoga in a few weeks, but a race goal has not been finalized.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said Thursday that Rombauer is under consideration for the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, a $600,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on dirt on July 31, or the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby, a $1 million race at 1 3/16 miles on turf on Aug. 7.
“I don’t have a preference,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got options afterward. There are a couple of avenues we can go.”
Owned and bred by John and Diane Fradkin, Rombauer was most recently third, 12 1/2 lengths behind Essential Quality, in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on June 5. Rombauer has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $1,040,500.
A colt by Twirling Candy, Rombauer has had two starts on turf, winning his debut in a maiden special weight race at a mile on the surface at Del Mar last July and finishing sixth in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf last September.