Belmont Winner Creator Returns in Jim Dandy

Seven weeks after Creator scored a narrow win against Destin in the final U.S. classic of the season, those two are set for a rematch in the $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) July 30 at Saratoga Race Course.

The Jim Dandy also marks the return of Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) fourth-place finisher Mohaymen in an expected field of six 3-year-olds for Saturday's test.

WinStar Farm and Bobby Flay's Creator will be looking for a third graded stakes score in his past four starts, as the son of leading sire Tapit   won the Arkansas Derby (gr. I) April 16 at Oaklawn Park, finished off the board in the Derby, and then bounced back with a win in the Belmont. The Arkansas Derby, like the Jim Dandy, is contested at 1 1/8 miles.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Creator for the first time in the Belmont, is scheduled to ride Saturday. After taking six races to secure his maiden win, Creator, trained by Steve Asmussen, seems to have figured things out. He has won three of his last five races and also placed third in the Rebel Stakes (gr. II) at Oaklawn before his breakthrough grade I score.

After some farm time, Creator has breezed four times in July, once at Churchill Downs and three times at Saratoga.

"Creator has trained really well since his little break at WinStar [Farm in Kentucky]," Asmussen said. "It's exciting to be running him here at Saratoga, and he's doing really well. Backing up from the mile and a half in the Belmont to this mile and an eighth, obviously the Travers is the major goal for him here this summer, but I think he'll represent himself well in the Jim Dandy."

Twin Creeks Racing Stables and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Destin will try to turn the tables on Creator Saturday. In the Belmont, Destin opened a clear lead in the stretch but could not quite hold off Creator's late charge and just missed by a nose. Earlier this year the son of Giant's Causeway registered back-to-back graded stakes wins at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Todd Pletcher, taking the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III) in February and the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) in March before finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby.

"I thought his race was sneaky good in the Derby, and I think the Belmont solidified his status as one of the top colts in this crop," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "He gives us the impression he's in the process of taking that step to the next level, and we've always felt like he's the kind of horse that's going to improve once he gets a little older.

"Being a [son of] Giant's Causeway, they tend to improve with experience and age. The Travers at a mile and a quarter should suit him well, so we're hoping to win the Jim Dandy, but we've kind of got our eye on the Travers as well."

Shadwell Stable's Mohaymen, also by Tapit, will be making his first start since a strong finish in the Derby, when he rallied eight wide and surged between foes to finish fourth. After that finish, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said the Travers Stakes (gr. I) with a possible prep in the Jim Dandy would be the plan for Mohaymen, who was an early favorite for the Derby off three straight grade II wins, capped by a clear victory in the Fountain of Youth Stakes in February at Gulfstream Park.

"He's doing great, ready to go, and hopefully it doesn't rain at five o'clock on Saturday, like it did the last two times he ran," McLaughlin said. "He ran very well last time. I think a repeat of that race puts him right there."

Rounding out Saturday's field is grade III-placed maiden Laoban, two-time stakes winner and Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) runner-up Governor Malibu, and stakes-placed winner Race Me Home. Governor Malibu finished fourth in the Belmont and Laoban placed fifth.