Godolphin’s Belmont winner Essential Quality handily added another feather to his cap with his hotly expected victory in the 600K Jim Dandy Stakes on a fast track at Saratoga on Saturday afternoon. The win filled yet another step in cementing his status as the leading three-year-old of the 2021 crop. He’s Travers bound now at the end of the Saratoga meet, and the questions of his participation in the fall classics hang heavy in the air. His winning time for the nine furlongs was 1:49.92, and he paid $2.80 on the nose.
Keepmeinmind placed, paying $4, besting his lower-odds rival Masqueparade, who showed. The relatively highly-touted Weyburn, who had run a game second to Mandaloun at the Pegasus earlier in the summer, did not live up to expectations and ran fourth. The $1 exacta of Essential Quality and Keepmeinmind paid a modest $3.25.
Essential Quality’s trainer Brad Cox and his jockey Luis Saez had, arguably more than most, expected the win but were taking absolutely nothing about their jobs for granted and did everything they could to stage as careful-as-could-be run. As such, both men evinced some relief that the afternoon mile-and-an-eighth feature had gone for their talented gray three-year-old more or less the way that they had wanted.
The operative word was, in fact, comfortable. He had a solid break, lay fourth in the reduced field of five and about four wide into the first turn. One had the impression that he bided his time, and didn’t actually begin his move out of fourth until the top of the stretch. Saez urged him on as he came under threat from a very game Keepmeinmind, but Essential Quality looked for a second as if he’d slightly forgotten where he was, and went wide again in the stretch. He woke up quickly, however, and we could watch him collect himself as Keepmeinmind kept pressing. It was a real horse race at that moment, perhaps a bit more real than Essential Quality’s connections had expected. Seconds later, Essential Quality had put him away. However: Keepmeinmind’s excellent showing will be widely noted, and his connections will be mulling him anew. He showed them something.
It’s on to the Travers now for the gray stallion, whose workmanlike style seems suited to Saratoga’s track. It wasn’t a race for the ages, but he got the job done.
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August 01, 2021 at 05:00AM
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Jim Dandy 2021 Results: Essential Quality Takes The Much-Touted Win, Keepmeinmind Places, Masqueparade Shows - Forbes
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