Haskell gets 8 entrants, but 2 big names may not show up

Eight 3-year-olds were entered Wednesday for this weekend’s Grade 1, $1.05 million Haskell Stakes. The question now is whether they all will show up.

Lightly raced Belmont Stakes runner-up Mindframe drew post 7 and was made the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 5:45 p.m. EDT race at Monmouth Park.

Click here for Monmouth Park entries and results.

Mindframe’s Eclipse Award-winning stablemate Fierceness, in post 5, and Belmont winner Dornoch, on the rail, are each 5-2. The trainers of those co-second choices said, however, they may wait another week and go in the $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga, also at 1 1/8 miles.

“As of right now we are considering both options,” Fierceness’s trainer Todd Pletcher said in a phone call to the Jersey Shore audience for Wednesday’s draw. “We’ve been preparing as though he’s going to run in the Haskell. There’s partially common ownership with Mike Repole owning 100 percent of Fierceness and 50 percent of Mindframe. I suppose that’s going to play into the equation. Mike is going to have to basically look at it and decide if he wants to run Fierceness against Mindframe or decide to split them up.”

The July 27 Jim Dandy will not be drawn until Saturday, so this could be a case of hurry up and wait for a decision to be made.

“I think the idea at this time to buy as much time as possible to make that decision,” said Pletcher, who has called on jockey John Velázquez to get the ride again whether it is this weekend or next.

Whenever it happens, connections will hope Fierceness maintains his every-other-race-is-a-win pattern. Coming off a victory in the Florida Derby (G1), he faded late to finish 15th in the Kentucky Derby.

Dornoch’s trainer Danny Gargan might have been raring to go in the Haskell. That was until the Good Magic colt who won going 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga last month in the Belmont got stuck with the rail draw.

“We’re not real happy with the 1 hole,” Gargan said on his call to the draw. “We’ll have to make a decision if we’re definitely going to run from it.”

Asked later to clarify whether he meant strategy or starting, Gargan told Horse Racing Nation in a text message, “That means I may run in (the) Jim Dandy.”

Gargan might have had nightmarish visions of the Kentucky Derby. That was where Dornoch got squeezed back at the start from post 1, leaving him in the unfamiliar position of being closer to the rear of the field than the front. He and jockey Luis Sáez, who would have the ride again Saturday, ran up against traffic along the backstretch rail and a bumpy ride from the top of the stretch en route to a 10th-place disappointment.

“Obviously, in the 1 hole, you have to show speed,” Gargan said on his call. “We’ll have to see how things go. He’s training really well. It looks like the horse next to us (Jasper’s Pride) doesn’t have any speed. Tuscan Sky (in post 3) has some speed. We don’t have to be dead on the lead. We just don’t want to get stuck inside checking.”

Even if Fierceness and Dornoch are no-shows Saturday, the focus is aimed squarely at Mindframe, though in the Belmont he looked as green as one might expect from a 3-year-old in only his third race. If he turns out to be the favorite Saturday as forecast by longtime Monmouth Park track handicapper Brad Thomas, it would be because the public anticipates last month’s performance will lead to a step forward.

“One of our concerns going in was we were running in a Belmont against a lot more seasoned and experienced horses,” Pletcher said. “We were just hoping that his lack of experience wouldn’t compromise his chances. I think that little bit of greenness he showed in the mid-stretch when he kind of veered out, I think that may have cost him the win. I couldn’t be disappointed in his effort. Just frustrated that we couldn’t get the job done.”

As usual Irad Ortiz Jr. will have the ride on Mindframe, whose first two starts in the spring resulted in victories by a combined 21 1/4 lengths.

Pletcher also entered Tuscan Sky (9-2), who won the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus Stakes last month over the same track as Saturday’s Haskell will be run. The Vino Rosso colt drew post 3 and will have Javier Castellano riding him.

Timberlake (8-1), another every-other-race winner, will have Flavien Prat starting with him from post 4. The son of Into Mischief has not raced since he finished fourth March 30 in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

“He came out of the race with a little bit of a setback,” trainer Brad Cox said. “It kind of maybe explained a little bit why he ran the way he did. We gave him the time he needed, and here we are, training very forward with the freshening. He had a great gate work two weeks ago leading up. We kind of zeroed in on this race once he started back working.”

Sea Streak (20-1), who was fifth last month in the Pegasus, drew the outside post. Jasper’s Pride (30-1) in post 2 and Just Step On It (30-1) in 6, both allowance winners, were supplemented into the race for $25,000 each.

The National Weather Service forecast a sunny day with a high of 87 degrees Saturday at Monmouth Park. The Haskell is the 12th of 14 races. The first post is at noon EDT.