Jackie's Warrior the One to Beat in Spa's Vanderbilt

Last year, after rolling to a 6 3/4-length win in the Gallant Bob Stakes (G2) at Parx Racing, jockey Joel Rosario hopped off the Thoroughbred dynamo named Jackie's Warrior  and was asked what it was like to ride such a fine-tuned horse.

Rosario smiled and offered this: 

"He runs fast," he said. "And then he runs faster."

And so it goes for the speedball son of Maclean's Music  . Owned by J. Kirk and Judy Robison, Jackie's Warrior, one of the marquee horses at the 2022 Saratoga Race Course meet, will be tough to beat when he headlines the six-horse field in the $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) July 30.

The 4-year-old has won 11 of 15 career starts and has won all three of his starts this year for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. A year ago, Jackie's Warrior won the Eclipse Award as the champion male sprinter.

In the last two races, Jackie's Warrior has just toyed with his competition. He won the True North Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park June 10 by five lengths; on May 7 he was a four-length winner of the Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1).

He runs. He wins. Repeat cycle.

Jackie's Warrior has won all four of his starts at Saratoga. As a 2-year-old, he won the Saratoga Special Stakes Presented by Miller Lite (G2), Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1), and Champagne Stakes (G1). Last summer, he romped to a 7 1/4-length win in the Amsterdam Stakes (G2) and then won a race for the ages when he edged Life Is Good  by a neck in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1).

"Winning one graded stakes at Saratoga is a tall task," Asmussen said. "The Vanderbilt is another opportunity to run him at Saratoga, where I think his best races have been."

In the Vanderbilt, Jackie's Warrior will carry top weight of 127 pounds, the most he has ever had to lug.

When Jackie's Warrior is right—and he has only been off the board twice, in two Breeders' Cup races—it's nearly impossible to run him down. He goes to the lead and he just keeps going.

Five other horses are gearing up for the Vanderbilt challenge: Zenith Racing's Long Range Toddy , trained by Dallas Stewart; John Fanelli, LC Racing, Cash is King, Paul Braverman, and Team Hanley's Ny Traffic , trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.; Ten Strike Racing, Jeremy Sussman, and Cory Moelis Racing's Kneedeepinsnow , trained by Matt Shirer; Bill Cosgrove's Willy Boi , trained by Jorge Delgado; and Russell Staggs' Doc Amster , also trained by Delgado.

They know the degree of difficulty is high in this assignment.

"It looks like almost an impossible task if Jackie's Warrior runs his race," Stewart said by phone from Kentucky. "Something odd has to happen. Like Jackie doesn't break good or Jackie doesn't feel good or Jackie doesn't do something. He is a superstar and he probably can't be beat."

"You've got to try it," Joseph said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. "It's Jackie's Warrior's race to win and we are a participant. Realistically, you can't beat him, but it's a horse race. A lot of horses get beat that aren't supposed to get beat."