While the most talked about race for 3-year-olds this weekend will certainly be Sunday's GI Haskell Invitational S. featuring the return of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), Saratoga's GII Jim Dandy S. Saturday still offers a $600,000 purse and the opportunity to prep locally for the Aug. 29 GI Travers S. Favored on Eric Donovan's morning line is Sheikh Mohammed homebred Frosted (Tapit). Second in the GII Remsen S. at the end of last season, the grey filled the same slot in Gulfstream's Holy Bull S. Jan. 4. He was a disappointing fourth after striking the front too early in that venue's GII Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 21, but his connections figured him out before Aqueduct's GI Wood Memorial S. Apr. 4 and were rewarded with a convincing tally.
“We changed everything for the Wood. It was a great achievement for our whole team,” recalled trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “It was very satisfying because of how many times we watched the replay of the Fountain of Youth and tried to figure out what went wrong. I'd put it in the top five [wins] of my career.”
It was then on to Louisville for Frosted, and he did very well to make up ground and be fourth in a GI Kentucky Derby dominated on the front end. Opting to wait for the GI Belmont S. after that, Frosted briefly looked like he might give American Pharoah a challenge before settling for second, 5 1/2 lengths back.
“Every race is important to him and to us,” McLaughlin said of the Jim Dandy. “We would like to win every time we go over there; we're excited about Saturday. He's doing great, everything's going well… I don't know that [he's gotten better since the Belmont], but I don't know that he needs to. He's happy and healthy and working weekly. I don't think he has to improve. You don't know about race shape, but we're ready.”
Texas Red (Afleet Alex), third behind American Pharoah in last September's GI FrontRunner S., crushed a GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile field that contained five next-out stakes winners and two more stakes runner-ups. The Keith Desormeaux pupil just missed in his seasonal return in the GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita Feb. 1, but was forced to miss a spring campaign due to foot problems. He was second to 'TDN Rising Star' Speightster (Speightstown) in the GIII Dwyer S. over a flat mile at Belmont July 4, and could be poised for a return to his best with the added ground and conditioning.
Barry Schwartz's lightly raced Japan (Medaglia d'Oro), a full brother to millionaire Al Khali who competes one race earlier in the GII Bowling Green H., put it all together two back to earn his diploma by seven lengths at Churchill Apr. 30. He defeated only two rivals last time in Belmont's June 6 Easy Goer S., but those runners returned to score. GSP Stanford (Malibu Moon) grabbed Monmouth's Long Branch S., while his stablemate Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor)–a Haskell entrant–took to turf in the Lamplighter S. down in Oceanport.
Upstart and Competitive Edge are expected to instead run in Sunday's Haskell.
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