Small fields likely for Curlin, Jim Dandy stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The ranks have thinned considerably among 3-year-olds to the point where the two stakes in the division scheduled for Saratoga next week are likely to attract small fields.

Next Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes has only three horses that, as of Friday, are considered definite – Hofburg, Bourbon Resolution, and Zing Zang.

Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes also has just three confirmed starters – Flameaway, Tenfold, and Vino Rosso. Trainer Peter Eurton is considering shipping either Core Beliefs or Draft Pick, with one of those possibly going to the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on July 29. Lone Sailor, beaten a nose in the Ohio Derby, is likely to run in the Jim Dandy, but also could re-route to the Haskell. Reride, winner of the Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland in the spring, also is possible for the Jim Dandy.

On Friday, at Saratoga, Flameaway worked four furlongs in 47.86 seconds over the main track in company with the 3-year-old maiden Bernotchie. They went off in a very fast 22.98 opening quarter before trainer Mark Casse, via two-way radio, told the exercise riders to slow down. The two got their final quarter in 24.88.

“They were rolling, that’s why we were yelling at them to slow down,” Casse said. “The good thing was the boy who gets on him said he was really eager to gallop out and he hasn’t always been.”

Flameaway won the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and was second in the Tampa Bay Derby and Blue Grass before finishing 13th, 30 1/2 lengths behind Justify, in the Kentucky Derby. Following a break, Flameaway finished sixth in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby, 5 1/4 lengths behind Core Beliefs.

Casse said between chasing the pace and running over a sloppy track, Flameaway “got roughed-up pretty good in the Derby.” So Casse gave the colt several weeks off and said he was likely a short horse entering the Ohio Derby.

“He probably went into the Ohio Derby maybe not at his optimum,” Casse said. “It showed the last quarter of a mile.”

Now, Casse says, Flameaway “is as happy as I’ve ever seen him.”