Jack Christopher returned to the top of his game Saturday with a 1 1/4-length victory in the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at Saratoga, the three-year-old’s fifth win from as many starts around one turn.
Exiting a two-length loss as the favorite in the nine-furlong Haskell (G1), his first and only start to date around two turns, Jack Christopher won from course specialist Gunite, who had previously captured the Hopeful (G1) last year and the Amsterdam (G2) earlier this meet.
Rating in second down the backside as Conagher set fractions of :22.18 and :44.53, Jack Christopher engaged that rival approaching the quarter pole, opened up in the stretch, and won with something left under Jose Ortiz.
“We planned on the [Conagher] going to the lead — he broke bad but then he rushed up there and gave us a nice target. Everything unfolded from that point forward the way we thought it would,” said Chad Brown, who trains Jack Christopher for the partnership of Jim Bakke, Gerald Isbister, Coolmore, and Peter Brant.
An odds-on favorite, Jack Christopher paid $3.10 after covering seven furlongs in 1:21.15 over a fast track. The time was one-fifth of a second slower than the time Cody’s Wish clocked in winning the Forego (G1) for older horses earlier in the card.
Gunite finished second by 2 3/4 lengths over 41-1 longshot Runninsonofagun. Conagher, Accretive, Happy Jack, Totalizer, and Actuator completed the order of finish.
The Jerkens Memorial was Jack Christopher’s fifth stakes win. A daylight maiden winner on last year’s Travers Day program, he followed up with a victory in the Champagne (G1). However, he was sidelined from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and did not make it back in time to contest any Triple Crown preps.
Jack Christopher sparkled in both the Pat Day Mile (G2) and Woody Stephens (G1) prior to the Haskell, in which he ran well despite racing on or close to a very fast pace. The Haskell was won in track-record time by Cyberknife, with Taiba second.
Bred in Kentucky by Castleton Lyons and Kilboy Estate, Jack Christopher was a $135,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling. By Munnings, he was reared by Rushin No Blushin, a Half Ours half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Street Boss.
