Talk to Me Jimmy favored but far from a cinch in Albany Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Talk to Me Jimmy was hardly impressive when he won the New York Derby last month at Finger Lakes, staggering to the finish line after dueling most of the way around the track with the talented sprinter Sculcos Folly.
That performance at 1 1/16 miles, albeit a winning one, would seem to leave Talk to Me Jimmy a potentially vulnerable favorite when he runs in Sunday’s $200,000 Albany Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga.
Which of his six rivals is best equipped to pull the upset is the puzzle handicappers will have to solve.
Talk to Me Jimmy, a son of Modernist, is the only member of the field proven at 1 1/8 miles, having won the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct in February by 11 lengths. He took advantage of a speed-favoring surface that day. Talk to Me Jimmy remained in open company, finishing eighth in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial and second in the Grade 3 Peter Pan before getting a two-month freshening leading up to the New York Derby.
In the New York Derby, Talk to Me Jimmy dueled with the multiple stakes-winning sprinter Sculcos Folly through six furlongs in 1:10.05 before persevering to the wire to win by 1 1/4 lengths. His final time of 1:46.67 was .48 of a second slower than Venetta’s time winning the New York Oaks on the same card.
“They went very quick,” said Rudy Rodriguez, trainer of Talk to Me Jimmy. “I was surprised nobody was coming, the race kind of fell apart. If somebody was coming, they could have picked him up.”
Stickupwithoutagun, a well-beaten fourth in the New York Derby, came out of that race to win an optional $75,000 claimer, earning a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.
Rodriguez has liked what he’s seen from Talk to Me Jimmy in the morning.
“I’m happy the way he’s coming into it, he drew a good post,” said Rodriguez, referring to post 6 in the seven-horse field. “Manny [Franco] can look and see what everybody else wants to do. You don’t need to go too hard. When he was chasing Napoleon Solo [in the Wood Memorial] he was chasing a different kind of horse.”
Onebigbeautfulbill, a son of Tiz the Law, has won both of his starts sprinting. He is running back just two weeks off a narrow allowance win Aug. 9.
“He seems like a horse that the further he goes the better he’ll get,” said Blake Cox, assistant trainer to his father, Brad. “We think a mile and an eighth is something he’ll like. We’re taking a shot, 14 days [back] is not what we do. It looks like there’s some speed to run at.”
Onebigbeautfulbill will need a rider as Irad Ortiz Jr. is sidelined indefinitely.
Sunday Boy, who won the $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series last December, is attempting two turns for the first time on dirt. He is coming off an allowance win going a mile here July 11.
“It looks like he’ll go further than a couple of those horses, whether he can beat a horse like [Talk to Me Jimmy] remains to be seen,” trainer Jim Ryerson said. “Rudy’s horse has already beaten us in a maiden, but I think this horse has improved and is worth giving a shot to.”
Tricky Business was beaten a neck by Onebigbeautfulbill. Minorinconvenience, who won the Funny Cide Stakes here as a 2-year-old, comes out of a fourth-place finish in the Curlin Stakes for trainer Amelia Green. Sociably Johnny was recently claimed for $25,000 by Linda Rice. Tuning In was a debut winner going a mile for trainer James Bond.
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