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Horsephotos
Flower Alley wins the Jim Dandy by
5 1/4 lengths, taking a giant stride towards the
Travers. | By
DAVID GRENING
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Todd
Pletcher thought Flower Alley ran well enough in the
Kentucky Derby to have run him back in either the
Preakness or Belmont Stakes. But knowing his horse was
playing catch-up to the top 3-year-olds, Pletcher
thought it best to skip the remaining two classics and
point for a summer campaign.
As with most of his moves throughout his career, this
one appears to be working out fine.
Flower Alley took a giant step toward the $1 million
Travers on Aug. 27 by running away to a 5 1/4-length
victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 Jim
Dandy before 29,291 at Saratoga. Reverberate
finished second, 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Andromeda's
Hero. King of Jazz and Mr. Congeniality were basically
eased.
Noble Causeway was scratched at the gate by jockey
Jerry Bailey and New York Racing Association chief
examining veterinarian Anthony Verderosa. Bailey told
Verderosa that Noble Causeway did not warm up well.
Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez anticipated
working out a stalking trip on Flower Alley. But
Reverberate didn't break well, and Richard Migliore was
riding conservatively on Mr. Congeniality out of the
gate.
Thus, Velazquez put Flower Alley into the race and he
dueled on the inside of Mr. Congeniality through modest
fractions of 23.86 seconds and 47.38 for the opening
half-mile. Entering the far turn, Flower Alley put away
Mr. Congeniality, and repelled a challenge from King of
Jazz and Reverberate to pull away by midstretch. Though
he ducked in from Velazquez's right-handed whip, Flower
Alley won easily.
"He's still getting there," said Pletcher, who won
this race for the fourth time in six years. "When he
made the lead, he kind of let up a little bit. When
Johnny hit him right-handed he ducked over on his left
lead. Right now, he's doing most of this on natural
talent."
Flower Alley, a son of Distorted Humor owned by
Eugene Melnyk, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.50 and
returned $3 as the favorite.
Two of Pletcher's three previous Jim Dandy winners -
Strong Hope and Purge - failed to duplicate that
performance in the Travers. Pletcher feels that the
extra week - the Jim Dandy formerly was run three weeks
out from the Travers - and the lack of a standout
3-year-old should make Flower Alley formidable in the
Travers.
"Obviously, he's one of the few top ones around,"
Pletcher said. "You take a horse like Afleet Alex out of
the equation, it's kind of a wide-open race." | 
