Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MAY 04: Mystik Dan #3, ridden by jockey Brian J. Hernandez Jr. (R), crosses .
.. [+] the finish line ahead of Sierra Leone #2, ridden by jockey Tyler Gaffalione and Forever Young, ridden by jockey Ryusei Sakai to win the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 04, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Getty Images Tomorrow’s $500,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga is, technically, a Grade 2 prep for the Travers, but this year, with a surprisingly short field of six, it’s a full scale Grade-A gunslingers’ showdown, a splendid thing for the sport in every way. Two of the six runners, or a bit better than 30% of the field, hit the boards in the three Triple Crown races, Sierra Leone in the Derby and the Belmont, and Seize the Grey as the victor in the Preakness. Opposing them, and threatening those two mightily, are the remaining two hotshots in the battle, Fierceness and Batten Down.
Although debate rages around him , Fierceness has been slotted in as the race’s second favorite — although leagues behind top favorite Sierra Leone (at 1-1) . Nevertheless, Fierceness remains a major, dominant and dominating front-running threat to all five other contenders. The latecomer three-year-old Batten Down, who has clocked two breezy consecutive wins recently, one of which was in June’s Ohio Derby, is notably favored slightly over Preakness winner Seize the Gre.