Jackson Bend Looms Large in Pegasus

Saturday’s $200,000 Pegasus Stakes (G3) has come up a proper prep for the $1 million IZOD Haskell Invitational, with six tough 3-year-olds battling over a mile and a sixteenth.

One of the toughest in the field is also one of the smallest, but what Jackson Bend lacks in stature, he more than makes up in heart.

“I don’t think he’s even 15 hands,” trainer Nick Zito said about the colt who finished a close-up third behind Lookin at Lucky and First Dude in the Preakness. “But to be that small and that tough is something special.

“He’s a gallant warrior,” Zito said. “It’s a privilege to have a horse who tries that hard all the time.”

The colt by Hear No Evil has run 11 races, with five wins, four seconds and one third. And all that despite the fact that his “trouble line” comments in his past performances read like an accident report. His only out-of-the money experience in two seasons came in the Kentucky Derby, where he was bounced all over the sloppy track to finish 12th.

“That was his only bad race, and you can’t even call it a bad race,” Zito said. “I don’t think he was crazy about that off track.

“He’s had lots of trouble in his races,” the trainer said. “Dave Feldman wrote a book called ‘Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda’ and that fits him perfectly.”

The weather forecast calls for warm and dry on Saturday, and Zito is confident Jackson Bend will bring his “A” race to Monmouth. Whether that includes trouble or not remains to be seen.

“He’s ready to go again,” Zito said. “He’s small, but he’s put together extremely well, and he has a big heart.”