Saratoga

THE Grade 2 Jim Dandy, over nine furlongs at Saratoga this evening (Sky 10.44pm) would rival any Grade 1. The six-horse field includes the top 2023 juvenile Fierceness who went off favourite for the Kentucky Derby after winning the Grade 1 Florida Derby, the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner Sieze The Day and Sierra Leone, beaten in the Kentucky Derby and a length and a half by subsequent Haskell Stakes winner Dornoch in the Belmont.

Sierra Leone is expected to go off favourite but won’t have much room for any hesitations in his running. He hung left when challenging in both the Derby and Belmont.

Sieze The Day was an emotional winner for D Wayne Lukas in the Preakness but was over 10 lengths behind Sierra Leone in the Belmont.

Fierceness could be the value. The draw and the big field was always going to be troublesome in the Kentucky Derby and he comes a fresh horse and can sit wide here and travel into contention.

The dark horse is the Juddmonte-bred Batten Down, not that a son of Tapit and the multiple Grade 1 winner Close Hatches could be described as a ‘dark’ horse. His progressive campaign led him to win the Grade 1 Ohio Derby last time following a wide-margin maiden win at Churchill Downs. His full-brother Tacitus was also placed in the classics and one of the top colts of 2019.

SELECTION: Fierceness

Next Best: Sierra Leone

The Grade 1 on the card is the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap over six furlongs on the dirt. Another small field of six sees the Jorge Duarte Jr-trained Subrogate aim to take his fourth win in a row this season, with Bill Mott’s Baby Yoda looking the main danger off two wins on his last two outings.

On Sunday, Saratoga’s feature is the Grade 2 Bowling Green over 11 furlongs on the turf. Charlie Appleby’s Silver Knott will be odds-on as he goes for his third Grade 2 win in a row in the US this summer. Christophe Clement’s Frankel gelding Soldier Rising had six seconds to his name in graded contests last season and looks booked for second again.

Del Mar

THE west coast features the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes over a dirt six furlongs tonight. Six-year-old The Chosen Vron steps up to Grade 1 level after four wins in a row at Santa Anita, including one over second choice here Happy Jack.

Also on the card, the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap sees the reappearance of Bob Baffert’s Arabian Knight, last seen when two-and-a-half-lengths fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to White Abarrio last season. He won the Grade 1 Racing Pacific Classic Stakes here last season and should hold off Newgrange.

Tomorrow’s Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes on turf over nine furlongs has two Phil D’Amato-trained Irish-breds in Gold Phoenix and Balnikhov. Gold Phoenix’s Grade 2 win at Santa Anita puts him in contention but it’s a very open contest and Baffert’s Grade 1 winning Du Jour could be the one.