Race days – and specifically this lovely Jim Dandy race day at Saratoga – have a way of debunking much of the fluff as we all drill down to what we’re going to lay on the barrelhead, backing whom. The windows beckon at the Spa.
But before we dive into what Commandment may athletically wreak on Renegade, or vice versa, or how Chip Honcho could just squeak by to whip them both with a dash-before-they-know-it, we’ll break down the origins of today’s race and the venerable reputation of Saratoga’s (alleged) track bias favoring speed, or at least its “graveyard of champions” legend that (supposedly) favors upsets of a grand order.
First and foremost, the morning refresher on the field and the morning line. Post time is 5:44 p.m. Eastern.
Post Position, Trainer, Jockey, (Morning Line), Live Odds
1. Chip Honcho, Steve Asmussen, Jose Ortiz, (3-1), 4-1
2. Asked and Answered, Antonio Arriaga, Jaime Rodriguez, (30-1), 33-1
3. Renegade, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr., (7-5), 6-5
4. Silent Tactic, Mark Casse, Luis Saez, (6-1), 10-1
5. Commandment, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, (6-5), 13-2
(Source: New York Racing Association, 8/1/2026, updated 5:44 Eastern)
Update on the live odds: As of post time at 5:44 p.m. Eastern, notably, Renegade was the track favorite, and Commandment was, at 3-2, the second favorite.
The Jim Dandy story is this: In 1964, the Saratoga grandees decided to inaugurate this afternoon’s race, a Travers prep, by insouciantly naming it for the 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy, who, in the 1930 running of the Travers, infamously toppled that year’s vaunted Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox in the mud. Going off at 1-2, Gallant Fox had been thought a dead-sure slam dunk.
Fast forward to June 2026: Two months ago on this reputed spoiler of a track, nothing was “spoiled” by anything like a “speed bias.” Rather, in the 158th Belmont running, three Triple Crown deep closers famously battled it out down the lane, speed horses nowhere in sight.
In that race, Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo certified his victorious Churchill Downs run with yet another breathtakingly dominant close that simply shut down the game Commandment, who just had no tools left to match the immense power of of the winner’s last-furlong surge to the wire. After a really rough Belmont trip, Renegade held on to show. All closers, all the time. Yes, the Belmont was run at a mile-and-a-quarter, and the Jim Dandy will be a crucial furlong shorter.
It’s been long-mined from his past performances that Commandant is far more comfortable at a mile-and-an-eighth than he is at a mile-and-a-quarter, but he didn’t seem to show quite all of that in the Belmont, rather, he gave it a solid try and beat Renegade, famously bolloxed and blocked and beat up with clods of dirt for the entire race. His trainer Todd Pletcher was not the least of the people who noticed that Renegade had a tough time even finding a slot through which he could bring anything resembling a run.
Here’s what Pletcher said this week of that June performance: "“He never found a clear path really. He was always in between, in behind, eating a lot of dirt. He’s a tough horse, he overcomes adversity, (and) I think he kept trying, but it wasn’t a clean trip.”
A clean trip for Renegade is far likelier this afternoon. If Irad Ortiz can keep him on his toes so that he doesn’t come from too far back – and even their recent frustration in the Belmont argues for that – Renegade can well bring his run through Commandment to the line. It is wholly within his power. The talent is there. Lining it up to shoot properly is the challenge.
For their part, the alleged “expert” at a mile-and-an-eighth, Commandant, and his sharp jock Flavien Prat will be striving to realize a slightly different race scenario. Whether this works out or not, the notion would be to sidestep a head-to-head stretch duel with Renegade by getting up front and putting him away over time so that, bring a grand run as he likes, or not, but either way Renegade just won’t get there in time.
In some smaller, less hopeful way, Brad Cox has something vaguely similar in mind for Chip Honcho, but it has to be done rather invisibly, and fast, before the more talented deep closers notice. Weirder things have happened in horse races, but that does not seem likely, and the track money has yet to speak on this or any other aspect of Chip Honcho. The fact remains: a mile-and-an-eighth is considered a long race for this horse. That’s not good news for the Honcho-man and Cox.
Ever the realist, Cox does know and freely admits his athlete’s distance preferences. This week Cox let drop to no less a bible than the Daily Racing Form that the mile-and-an-eighth "…is going to be a lot for him and the competition is excellent. Not very many of them, but boy they can run.”
Bringing up the rear in the four favorites’ rankings, Silent Tactic remains in the same boat as Chip Honcho, but seated a mite further toward the stern. Bracing as it would be to see the Arkansas Derby placer (to Renegade) blow by Renegade, Commandant and Chip Honcho en route to the wire today, the likelihood of that rather more classic Jim Dandy-ish upset is remote, to say the least.
The only scenario more remote, more amusing – and arguably better for the sport – than any of that would be if the roundly-dismissed Asked and Answered, who is deeply inexperienced and who has been assigned “fair odds” of 100-1 by some pundits, somehow decided to wake up, essentially becoming a different horse, and then blew by them all. However that fantasy-football scenario works out, piquant is the fact that his 100-1 odds are precisely those carried by the real Jim Dandy into the Travers as he whipped Gallant Fox in 1930.
Kismet! For that bit of hilarious historical synchronicity alone, Asked and Answered is worth folding into your more fantastical exotics, or even a sawbuck on the nose.