Jimmy P On the way to victory in the Jonathan Sheppard – Again (Chelsea Durand)
Mary Eddy/Nyra Press Office
Saratoga Springs, NY – Madaket Stables, Molly Willis and Paul Willis’ Jimmy P Had taken cuts from the trainer from the road Keri Brion And successfully defended his title in the degree 1 of Wednesday, $ 150,000 Jonathan Sheppard, an obstacle of 2 3/8-mile for older horses, during the Saratoga Race Course.
“I would have been so upset today if this horse would not have run its race,” said Brion. “The reason he won so much last time is that they went so fast and it fell apart for him. This time he really had to work for it. There have been questions about whether he is still the same horse and he still wants to do it and everything – to be honest, he had to turn off his neck and fight it now. It’s great to see it.”
The 7-year-old sleep in sleep last year won the Sheppard with 34 1/2 lengths under Stephen Mulqueen after the favorite Zarak fell into the second fence, but the talented bay got a complete taste of that enemy in the stretch on Wednesday after a clean journey for a clean journey as both stretch duel.
“He has won it twice now. I don’t care how far he wins, he did it,” said Mulqueen.
With Mulqueen on board, Jimmy P established well from the early pace after a second start due to the refusal of Quick Master in the first setup. Fast Master refused again in the do-over, but the rest of the field started the race when the Brion trained showed the insider speed and for the first time kicked the piece and was accompanied by those who count shortly after.
Evan Dwan took Zarak the brave closer to the second turn and exerted a mild pressure in second place while the insider maintained his lead through the second round with positions that are usually unchanged. The race was on the back time for the last time, where Mulqueen was in charge of a bid -the wideest of everyone and Zarak the brave stored the insider who spent the last fence.
Zarak The Brave had a head lead in the two-mile call, but Jimmy P was in a hot chase to his outside and went against each other with his game rival over the sturdy foot. The two made it out of the track with Zarak the brave one who came back again in the last 100 meters, but Jimmy P wanted himself to be in front of the thread to score in a recent time of 4: 36.83.
Hidden Path gathered from Last to Land Show Honors another four lengths back with the St James the Great, trained by Brion, who completes the Superfecta. Whoever counts, the Insider and Givemeefive completed the order of finish, while fast master was run away after his refusal.
Mulqueen said that Jimmy P felt like a winner at the last fence.
“When we landed over the back of the last, I knew I would pick up the horse that was in front,” said Mulqueen. “To be honest, he kept going more than I thought he would do that. I didn’t want to get there too fast, because he drove in Knifels, so with blinkers I wanted to time with one point. When he hit the front, he poked his ears and started galloping, he is pretty smart that way.”
Dwan praised the effort of Zarak de Brave, who is still looking for his first American victory after two placements of grade 1 out of his five starts for trainer Thomas Garner.
“He ran very well. He jumped well. He galloped all the way to the line,” said Dwan. “I probably should have sent him a little earlier. He came back in the lane, but it is a springstone in the right direction, so we are happy.”
Brion said she took Jimmy P’s blinking to help keep his interest during the race.
“He will work everything out in the morning and then you put it in the race and he is just a bit casual about it,” said Brion. “So I put them on and then I thought we’ll change it again, they get out, just keep messing around with him – he did nothing wrong in this race last year, let’s do exactly the same thing.”
The victory was the third in this event for Brion, who worked for a few years as an assistant to the Late Hall of Famer Sheppard before he only went out in 2021, a year that she saw the Sheppard win with the subsequent Eclipse Award winner The Mgeme Queen.
“It is clear that this race means a lot to me, it is always, and that will always do it,” said Brion. “This is a typical Jonathan Sheppard specus horse – a flat horse that broke his girl and that was it and this brought him to a different level. Jonathan was so good with those types.”
Brion added that she is inclined to both the degree 1, $ 150,000 Lonesome Glory in Belmont in the Big A and the Grade 1 Grand National on October 18 in Far Hills for Jimmy P instead to skip for the class 2 William H. Allison on November 25 on the International Gold Cup on the International Gold Cup on the International.
“We always run him on Far Hills and he never runs well when we go there,” Brion explained. “I could change it and go to the Gold Cup and then finish it with a class 1 in the Colonial Cup in the fall. I think the colonial cup – a flatter track – I think it prefer the racrack.”
Bred in Kentucky by Head of Plains Partners and Madaket Stables, Jimmy P won one race on the flat and moved to jumps in July 2022. He improved from a last fifth in the grade 1 AP Smithwick Memorial on July 23, and noted his first victory since last year’s Sheppard. He was $ 90,000 in victory and improved his record to 27-6-2-2 and returned $ 8.70 on a $ 2 win ticket.
Live racing resumes on Thursday on Saratoga with an 11-race card, marked by the degree 3, $ 175,000 with anticipation in race 7. The first post is 13:10 Eastern.
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