This Week in Racing: Justify's rivals get a chance to shine

There will be no Justify this weekend, but many of the closest rivals from his historic run through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont will be in action in New Jersey or Upstate New York. Monmouth Park will host its summertime classic on Sunday, and this year's million-dollar Haskell will be topped by the 2-year-old male champion of 2017, Good Magic. Meanwhile, up at Saratoga, Vino Rosso should go favored in Saturday's Jim Dandy, while Hofburg will look for a little class relief in Friday's Curlin Stakes.

If there was any one horse who gave Justify a run for his money through the Triple Crown, you would have to point to the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic. The Chad Brown trainee asked the question of the unbeaten colt at the top of the Churchill Downs stretch on the first Saturday in May, before coming back two weeks later to go head and head with him for a good portion of the Preakness. The son of Curlin held on well in both of those efforts, despite not being good enough to derail history. 

Freshened since, skipping the Belmont and pointing to the Haskell and the Travers was always the plan for last year's champ. Owned by e Five Racing, all has gone as planned for Good Magic since Baltimore, and he looms strictly the one to beat in the Grade 1 Haskell, provided he comes back at his best. Among his chief rivals on the Jersey Shore will be one of the two colts who passed him late for second in the Preakness.

Bravazo was the only horse who tested Justify in all three legs of the Triple Crown, and despite finishing off the board in Louisville and New York, he was the one who got the closest to him at the wire in any of the three. The winner of the Risen Star early in the year proved he is capable of big things with that strong second-place effort in the Preakness. Trained by the venerable D. Wayne Lukas, the son of Awesome Again has been reported to have come out of his tough spring campaign in the pink.

Others expected for the Haskell include a pair of longshots with experience over the Monmouth Park main track, in the Pegasus second-place finisher Roaming Union, and the Long Branch hero Navy Commander. A stronger win candidate for the Haskell, though, could come from the top pair from the Ohio Derby. In their latest, Core Beliefs rode a wide trip to win the $500,000 affair by a whisker over the tough luck Lone Sailor. The latter also just missed in the Louisiana Derby, and has run a series of good efforts for trainer Tom Amoss, while the former seems to be still improving for trainer, Peter Eurton.

Core Beliefs is considered a definite for the Haskell, while Lone Sailor could still show up in either the Haskell of the Jim Dandy. Either way, he is a threat for the top spot.

If Lone Sailor runs in the Jim Dandy, he will have to deal with a couple of sons of Curlin, in the Repole and St. Elias owned Vino Rosso, and the third-place finisher in the Preakness, Tenfold.

Vino Rosso was an impressive winner of the Wood Memorial back in April, but could only muster a ninth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby and a fourth-place effort in the Belmont Stakes. But in both races he had an excuse, catching a sloppy track in Kentucky Derby, before making first run at a relatively unchallenged Justify in the Belmont. Cutting back to the same distance in which he won the Wood, trainer Todd Pletcher should have him ready to go for a run at the Jim Dandy and then the Travers at Saratoga. 

Finishing one spot behind Vino Rosso in the Belmont was Tenfold, but before that the lightly raced colt finished an excellent third in the Preakness for trainer Steve Asmussen. With that experience under his belt, he could be a horse to watch this summer.

Other Jim Dandy probables include last year's eventful Hopeful winner Sporting Chance, and the Sam F. Davis winner, Flameaway, both of which are looking for a rebound from disappointing efforts lately.

While the bigger races of the weekend, the Haskell and the Jim Dandy, could produce major players for August's Mid-Summer Derby, don't be too surprised if the actual Travers favorite comes out of Friday's Curlin Stakes.

Run the day before the Jim Dandy at Saratoga, the Curlin has become a key stepping stone for the Travers, and this year, Hofburg looks to take advantage. The handsome son of Tapit was thrown into the deep end of the pool after breaking his maiden in early March, and he accounted himself well enough, finishing second in the Florida Derby, a closing seventh in the Kentucky Derby, and third in the Belmont. 

After that trio of tough spots, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott is more than happy to rekindle his colt's confidence in an easier spot on Friday. Anything but a win against this Curlin field would be a disappointment, but an impressive victory would launch him on to the Travers in an ideal way, and as one of the horses to beat.

With ankle concerns leaving the future racing career of Justify in doubt,  this weekend offers a chance for the best of the rest to step up and be on their way to a big second half. The Eclipse Award is already salted away, but hey, there's no shame in being No. 2 to a Triple Crown winner.