KINGSTON, Jamaica - The US$500,000 Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) lived up to the hype on Saturday as Jackie's Warrior prevailed over Life Is Good in a thrilling stretch duel at Saratoga.
With Joel Rosario in the irons, Jackie's Warrior ranged up to front-running favorite Life Is Good at the top of the stretch and the two 3-year-old colts battled to the wire with Jackie's Warrior narrowly prevailing.
“He broke really well and it looked like Life Is Good was very speedy too, so I decided to stay where I was," Rosario said. "He (Jackie's Warrior) is a nice horse and ran a tremendous race.
“I felt confident, but Life Is Good was not giving up and a lot of credit to him too, it was a very good race."
The final time for seven furlongs on a fast track was 1:21.39 following splits of 21.97, 44.16 and 1:09.16 for six furlongs set by Life Is Good, who was returning from a nearly six-month layoff for new trainer Todd Pletcher.
“He never stops trying," Life Is Good's jockey Mike Smith said. "It was his first race back. We’re asking him to run against probably the best sprinters in the country, if not the world, to be honest with you right now, and for him to run like he did it was pretty incredible.
Following Sea checked in third and was followed by Drain The Clock. Jackie's Warrior paid $5.10 as the second-choice in a six-horse field for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
"Jackie was away clean so I wasn't concerned when Life Is Good outbroke him," said Asmussen, who one race earlier also won the Forego (G1) with Yaupon. "He was a comfortable horse. Joel has a tremendous amount of confidence in him. He was traveling nicely and wasn't pulling against him or anything. When they threw up forty-four and five they were rolling along. They separated from the others."
Jackie's Warrior entered off a 7 1/4-length demolition in the Aug. 1 Amsterdam (G2) going 6 1/2-furlongs earlier in the meet at Saratoga. The son of MacLean's Music, owned by Kirk and Judy Robison, improves his record to 10: 7-1-1 with three Grade 1 wins and more than $1.3 million in earnings.
"This horse is incredible," Asmussen said. "The thing you just love about him is his demeanor and the way he goes about everything that he does. We breezed Jackie and Yaupon together 12 or 13 days ago and the way that they handled it and the way they came back from it gives you all kinds of confidence. I think they both ran their race and showed their Grade 1 ability against great fields and on Travers Day. What could be better?"
