By Mike Kane
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY- Klaravich Stables's GI Preakness S. winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) was shipped from Belmont Park to Saratoga Race Course Sunday and will run in the GII Jim Dandy July 30.
Trainer Chad Brown announced that Early Voting will go in the Jim Dandy with stablemate Zandon (Upstart), rather than face another stablemate, unbeaten Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GI Haskell S. July 23. Brown is aiming all three of his graded stakes-winning 3-year-old colts for Saratoga's signature race, the $1.25-million GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 27. He waited until after Early Voting's work Saturday at Belmont Park before deciding whether the colt would go to Monmouth Park with Jack Christopher in a Grade I contest or come to Saratoga and have a race over the track before the historic Travers.
“Jack Christopher looked great this morning, he looks ready to go for the Haskell and at the end of the day I'm going to run two horses in one race and one on the other,” Brown said. “I'd rather only run the one in the Haskell and I just didn't see the benefit of putting Early Voting in a larger field against a really fast horse, what it might do to him five weeks out from the Travers.”
In the Jim Dandy, for decades the local prep for the Travers, Jeff Drown's Zandon will be making his first start since finishing third in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7. He won the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. April 29.
Early Voting gave Brown his second Triple Crown race win in the Preakness May 21. In 2017, Brown brought his Preakness winner Cloud Computing back in the Jim Dandy.
Jack Christopher, co-owned by Jim Bakke, Gerald Ibister, Coolmore Stud and Peter Brant, extended his record to 4-0 with a smashing 10-length victory in the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens June 11. The nine-furlong Haskell will be his first race beyond one mile and his first around two turns.
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