Exaggerator Questionable for Jim Dandy

The status of Exaggerator for the $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) July 30 is up in the air, after the Preakness (gr. I) winner and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) runner-up received a "C" grade for his workout July 23 from trainer Keith Desormeaux.

Exaggerator, the beaten favorite in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), went to the Saratoga Race Course main track shortly before 9 a.m. EDT with jockey Junior Alvarado aboard and proceeded through a six-furlong drill with fractions of :24 1/5, :35 4/5, :48 1/5 and 1:13 4/5, with an unofficial gallop-out to seven furlongs in 1:30. There was a loose horse on the track as he was completing the work, which did not appear to affect things.

"I asked him a little bit, but he didn't really gallop out much," said Alvarado, who rode Exaggerator to victory in last year's Saratoga Special (gr. II) before the Curlin   colt was paired with Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux. "But he was stretching his legs and I think he did very good. He went good, relaxed, settled—finished up nice."

Keith Desormeaux was lukewarm about the workout, which was preceded by a bullet five furlongs last July 16.

"I got him in 1:14, galloped out 1:30, so he slowed up pretty quickly," he said. "He was clipping off :12 and changes pretty easily the first half, but he slowed down pretty good. He went the last quarter in :25 and change. It wasn't a perfectly planned work—I wanted the first part of the work to go, like in :13, and finish up, but he was pretty aggressive, and after an eighth or so, Junior did say he settled, so that was good.

"I would have liked to see him finish with more vigor—but that's OK. Sometimes they need a work. That's his second work over this surface. ... As you can see, as we speak, I'm processing what he did last week and this week, and the predominating thought is that he's not finishing as good as I want him to. Now, as a trainer, is that because he's not fit enough, or is he struggling with the track?"

Desormeaux, who sent out Texas Red to win last year's Jim Dandy, is unsure whether Exaggerator will run in that 1 1/8-mile race or perhaps train up to the $1.25 million Travers (gr. I) Aug. 27.

"That's what I'm going to have to struggle with during the week—off of that work, it doesn't seem like he's tight enough, or he's struggling with the track," the trainer said. "It's making me leery on running him in the Jim Dandy. Should I give him a couple more works? What's the rush? The Travers is the real goal. So we'll see what the next couple of days brings, but there is the chance I might skip the Jim Dandy, because he didn't finish with the vigor I wanted to see."

Desormeaux will return to California July 24, relying on assistant trainer Julie Clark to brief him on Exaggerator's progress early next week.

"Very interesting decision here," he said. "We want to do what's best for the horse. That's going to lead to the ultimate decision."