Expert Pick of the Week: 2024 Iroquois Stakes

Sep 11, 2024 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

An excellent collection of 12 two-year-old prospects will go postward in Saturday’s $300,000 Iroquois S. (G3) at Churchill Downs. The first race on the 2025 Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series will reward the top five finishers with qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 structure.

The field consists of 10 last-out winners, and another pair coming off of recent stakes placings, in what is one of the more competitive editions of this race in recent years. Sandman looked very good in breaking his maiden while making his second lifetime run at Saratoga on Aug. 10, and the Mark Casse trainee gets the nod in his first run beneath the Twin Spires. He is the Expert Pick of the Week.

#2 Sandman graduates in the opener at Saratoga under @davisjockey for trainer Mark Casse! 🤩 @westpointtbred

A top pick winner to start the day for @ntamm1215! pic.twitter.com/9aiU0MVTEY

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) August 10, 2024

Bred in the Bluegrass State, the gray brought the gavel down at $1.2 million at OBS in March, and he gave an indication why in his latest effort. The son of Tapit rated kindly behind a quick early tempo in a seven-furlong heat at the Spa, prior to taking command in the stretch and driving home to a measured 1 3/4-length tally. His pedigree and running style both indicate that he will thrive with more distance as he progresses, and the colt figures to receive a nice voyage on Saturday while tracking the pace from the second or third flight in the early stages. Jose Ortiz will be in the silks.

Jonathan’s Way was among the most impressive maiden winners at Saratoga this summer and seems poised to give a nice account of himself in his second career showing. Conditioned by Phil Bauer, the dark bay son of sharp freshman sire Vekoma rallied from off the pace to graduate by a widening 4 1/4 lengths in his unveiling, and the $290,000 weanling purchase seems certain to thrive with the added distance on Saturday. The February foal shows a solid half-mile morning move on the course in advance of his stakes bow, and pilot Joel Rosario retains the mount. Ohio-bred will be rallying from off the early tempo.

The Dale Romans-trained Mesero broke last but finished first in a fine debut victory over a muddy strip at Ellis Park. Not This Time colt is a wild card to me at this stage of his development, but he could surely be a contender against this cast with improvement on the move to eight panels. The gray will be doing his best work late beneath Corey Lanerie.

Expert Pick

An exacta with #7 Sandman on top of #10 Jonathan’s Way and #11 Mesoro in the 2024 Iroquois Stakes is the Best Bet of the Week.