Odds, Race Day Bets, Speedy Saudi Crown And Forte’s Battle With Himself

Saratoga’s most grim and apt nickname, ‘the graveyard of champions,’ isn’t exactly fitting today’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy, what with its slender five-horse field led by Todd Pletcher’s Forte, followed closely by second-favorite Angel of Empire. Both Forte and Angel of Empire are not exactly riding high at the moment after winning the Triple Crown, coming in all bold, the way Secretariat did before he was undone in the Travers at Saratoga by Onion in 1973. Rather, they’re looking for a prep for the Travers and more than a little redemption. They’re building back.

And exactly that project, building back, is what will make this Jim Dandy mean far more than its purse — a relatively modest mid-summer half-million — or its grade 2 prep role for the Travers would have us think it does. What these horses do this afternoon at the Spa will definitely and fully impact what happens at Saratoga’s season-capping Travers, and will also ripple out to affect the Breeders’ several fields. It’s just that deceptive, this seemingly small Jim Dandy.

But before we get into the intricacies of Forte’s blinders and Brad Cox’s program for Angel of Empire, here, a look at the field with odds that we’ll be updating all day, until post time. Post time for the feature is 5:45 p.m. ET, and the race will be carried, spectacularly, as all Saratoga Saturdays will be, by Fox in its expanded Fox Saratoga Saturday broadcast.

(Post Position, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Morning Line)

1) Disarm, Joel Rosario, Steven M. Asmussen, 6-1

2) Forte, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Todd A. Pletcher, 7-5

3) Hit Show, Luis Saez, Brad H. Cox, 6-1

4) Saudi Crown, Florent Geroux, Brad H. Cox, 5-2

5) Angel of Empire, Flavien Prat, Brad H. Cox, 5-2

(Source: Off Track Betting)