An Easy Ride in the East

About a half-hour after Medaglia d’Oro completed his 1 1/8-mile “workout” at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem finished his in New Jersey.

Both the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga and the $1-million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park turned out to be nothing more than well-paid exercise for the favorites in those races.

Facing only four opponents after four late scratches--Peekskill, Easyfromthegitgo and Medaglia d’Oro all ran earlier in the Jim Dandy--War Emblem, the 3-10 favorite, took care of any mystery early in the Grade I Haskell.

Making his first start since the Belmont Stakes on June 8, when his horrible stumble cost him whatever chance he had of becoming a Triple Crown winner, War Emblem acted up a bit in the gate, then broke extremely well under jockey Victor Espinoza.

From there, it was clear the others were running for second money of $200,000.

Owned by the late Prince Ahmed bin Salman’s Thoroughbred Corp., War Emblem never felt any serious pace pressure and wasn’t touched by Espinoza’s whip. At the wire, he had four lengths on runner-up Magic Weisner, completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 1/5. He also had his seventh win in 11 starts and became the first Derby winner to win the 35-year-old Haskell.

“This was a great wedding present,” said Baffert, who was married Saturday night to the former Jill Moss. “It’s great to see War Emblem back. He’s a remarkable horse and I’m glad that he showed up today. That’s the War Emblem we know. He’s great for racing. We’ll have to sit down and talk with Richard [Mulhall, manager of Thoroughbred Corp.] about what we’ll do with him next. We don’t want to overrace him, so we’ll pick certain spots. We’d like to have him for next year.”

This was the second consecutive Haskell victory for Baffert and Thoroughbred Corp. In 2001, Point Given won as the heavy favorite in what turned out to be his final start.

The latest win was bittersweet, because of the sudden death of Bin Salman two weeks earlier.

“This was in his memory,” said an emotional Mulhall. “This means a lot.”

Making his first start since finishing second behind longshot winner Sarava in the Belmont, Medaglia d’Oro also made the lead over a track that favored frontrunners all afternoon. Before a record Saratoga crowd of 69,523--lured in part by a shirt giveaway--he won by almost 14 lengths in 1:47 4/5.

Owned by Ed Gann and trained by Bobby Frankel, the 3-year-old El Prado colt was ridden by Jerry Bailey to his third win in eight starts. He is two for six since being purchased privately by his current connections early in the year.

Quest, a 16-1 shot, finished second under jockey Javier Castellano, but was disqualified and placed last for interfering with Iron Deputy in the stretch run. Iron Deputy clipped heels after Quest drifted in and rider Richard Migliore fell to the ground hard. Migliore was taken to a hospital and complained of pain in his right arm. The rider broke the same arm in a spill at Belmont Park in 1999.

Because of the disqualification, Gold Dollar, a 22-1 shot, was moved up to second and Essence Of Dubai, a 14-1 outsider, was placed third.

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Baffert failed in the other stake he was supposed to win Sunday.

Congaree, the even-money favorite in the $250,000 San Diego Handicap, faded to third in the stretch after setting the pace and the Grade II fell into the lap of 14-1 shot Grey Memo.

Outrun early the 5-year-old son of Memo circled the pack and drew away in the stretch to win in 1:43 2/5 for the 1 1/16 miles. Eddie Delahoussaye rode for trainer Warren Stute and a partnership that includes breeder Ridgeley Farm.

This was only the third win in the last 19 starts for Grey Memo, but he does make his victories count. His other 2002 win came March 23 in the $1-million Godolphin Mile in Dubai. He has now earned more than $1.3 million.