H. ALLEN JERKENS STAKES Practical Joke gets up in H. Allen Jerkens
By Jeff Scott
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Practical Joke hadn’t tried seven furlongs since winning the Hopeful here last Sept. 5. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite Saturday in the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes, the four-yearold son of Into Mischief looked as though he’d been sprinting for his entire career, running down pacesetting Takaful in the final sixteenth to score his third Grade 1.
Takaful, who was exiting a 5 ¼-length gate-to-wire job in a six-furlong allowance here on Opening Day, looked awfully brave turning for home with a twolength lead. But Practical Joke, after saving ground most of the way, was yanked out a couple of paths by winning jockey Joel Rosario, and had plenty of time to get to the leader. The official margin was a length and a quarter, the final time 1:21.96 on a “fast” main track.
“To cut back all the way to seven-eighths after a tough race in the Haskell, I’m so proud of this horse,” said winning trainer Chad Brown. “He’s so versatile. It was his third race in seven weeks. He’s our iron horse.”
“His best races are around one turn, and he always tries hard,” said winning jockey Joel Rosario, who was aboard Practical Joke for the seventh time. “I had a great trip. I was just watching for traffic and waiting for the right time to make my move moving forward. Around the turn he just started picking up horses like the great horse he is.”
It was a big effort on the part of Takaful, who had had little luck previously in graded company and was starting in his first Grade 1.
“I can’t complain,” said Jose Ortiz, who was aboard the runner-up. “He broke well, put me where I wanted to be. [We got] reasonable fractions. But Practical Joke is a good horse, and his experience helped him a lot.”
Though never embarrassing himself, Practical Joke had a less-successfulthan-hoped Triple Crown experience. After running second in the Fountain of Youth and Blue Grass, he finished fifth at 27-1 in the Derby. He followed that with a two-length win in the Dwyer and a close third to Girvin and McCraken in the Haskell. The Jerkens win improves his record to 5-2-2 in 10 starts, with a total bankroll of $1,670,000.
Practical Joke races for Klaravich Stables Inc. and William H. Lawrence.
Asked about future plans, Chad Brown mentioned the Breeders’ Cup Mile as a possibility.
“It’s a tricky race because it’s around two turns,” said Brown. “He’s undefeated around one turn, but the mile distance seems perfect for him, so if I had to guess right now, that’s where we’ll end up. But I’ll talk to the owners about it.”