US racing tips: Shane Ketteridge has two selections for Saratoga on Saturday

Nakatomi
8.20 Saratoga
1pt win

Sierra Leone
10.43 Saratoga
1pt win

Saratoga hosts an action-packed stakes card with the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes taking centre stage.

A field of six older horses are set to line up for the former, which was upgraded to Grade 1 status in 2010, and trainer Wesley Ward has a great chance of breaking his duck in the 6f contest with Nakatomi.

Tyler Gaffalione’s mount is a course winner who has shown enough during his career to suggest he is up to winning at this level, evidenced by a fantastic third behind Elite Power and Gunite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November.

The five-year-old has been putting in some solid workouts at Keeneland in recent weeks and Ward looks to have found a great opportunity for him here.

The Jim Dandy Stakes has been won by some outstanding three-year-olds since its inception in 1964 and this year will be no different as Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Florida Derby winner Fierceness takes on Blue Grass Stakes winner and Kentucky Derby second Sierra Leone.

There are four other colts in this field but these two are the standout on form. Todd Pletcher’s Fierceness has been very easy on the eye, especially when destroying the field by 13 and a half lengths in the Florida Derby. However, he is inconsistent and comes up against a real fighter in Sierra Leone — who has at least the same level of class.

Chad Brown's three-year-old put up a great performance in the Kentucky Derby which was followed by a third-placed effort behind Dornoch in the Belmont Stakes here last month. That form has been franked with Dornoch winning the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth last week so it would not be a surprise to see Sierra Leone dominate this field.

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