The Jerkens Memorial (Grade 1)- $500.00 Purse
SAR- For Three Year Olds
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
August 29, 2026

While the Grade 1 Jerkens Memorial is not one of the SAR graded races on Saturday that offers a “win and you’re in” spot for the BC, you can pretty much count on its winner ending up in the BC Sprint just as long as the trainer wants them there. This race has been run every year since the start, where it was won by the great Omni for a $200.00 purse. The purse amount has been at its present level since 2013 with only an exception in 2020. Fractious had a strong recent run of success in this race, but last year it was won by Ineedu2party, for Maxmillion Farm. He’s moved over to the grass recently, and was fifth last week in DMR’s Green Flash Handicap. We’ll have eight taking part this time around, so let’s take a look at them now!

1- Silver Hurricane (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Silver Hurricane had a strong three year old campaign running long, winning the SA Derby, which would typically have got him to the KYD, but instead his path took him to the PRK where he cashed a fourth place check. He’s continued to run well after than, finishing second in the Winn at CD and then the Dandy here last month. Given all that, why is he here and not the Travers? That’s just simply the strength of the stable he is in and probably speaks particularly high of Mb’s Travers confidence with Quantum Pursuit. At the same time, Silver Hurricane looks like a good option to cut back to seven furlongs.

2- The Hunter (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- One of two horses that ran in the Grade 2 Amsterdam here last month, and it could not have ended any better for The Hunter, who ended up prevailing in a tight photo. The win was the third for The Hunter over a four race stretch, with the $150.00 Lang Stakes from LRL also a race he won. He was once a BC Juvenile horse and was on the KYD trail for a little bit, but it seems like cutting back to around seven furlongs as been ideal for him. He’ll look to provide another example of why that’s the case right here.

3- Need Cash Now (Mb Stables, ridden by R Santana Jr)- He was the other horse in the Grade 2 Amsterdam, but it was not a race that ended as well for him, placing fifth. That does not mean he has failed to have success here at the Spa, as in June he put forth a monster performance, winning the Grade 1 Stephens at seven furlongs with a 103 SRF. He took his chances going long as well, and you may remember him finishing second here in the prestigious Hopeful last year, which led to further second place efforts in the Grade 1 Champagne and the BC Juvenile itself. While this has been a fine year for him, he has not been quite as impressive, overall.

4- Liberty Street (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by F Pennington)- Ran against Need Cash Now in June at the Grade 1 Stephens and finished third, earning a 101 SRF. In seven starts, he has won twice, with the non-maiden win coming at what was formerly known as the Big A in the $200.00 NY-bred Your Biscuits in April. He was dropped into an allowance last time out, coming here, and I would have liked to have seen him finish better than fourth there, good field or not, in order to have more confidence in him here.

5- Triangle (Mb Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- Right on cue, and as so often happens when you go down a list of looking at horses here, we get the horse that won that aforementioned allowance. For Triangle, it came in a photo for his second win in a row. He took a few races to finally break his maiden, but continued to cash checks at high tracks leading into that. Ultimately, being gelded may have done the trick, breaking his maiden at WO before taking that allowance. Now, we’ll get a chance to see if he can take yet another step forward as one of Mb’s triangle of horses here. If it doesn’t work out, he still has two others to root on.

6- It’s a Wonderful Life (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by V Espionza)- The Van Gogh colt will be making his seventh career start, and hopes to finally step up at the stake level here. In his first four races, everything was great with two wins and two seconds, but he has not earned another penny since being moved up. The Grade 3 OH Derby was a struggle, but at least he was better in the $150.00 Real Good Deal, for CA-breds, at DMR. Problem is, this is a much stronger field than that.

7- Wizardly (Barcelona Farms, ridden by G Corrales)- Early in his career, Wizardly has been able to win half of his eight starts, and is presently riding a three-race winning streak. After a brief period in KYD preps, Wizardly picked up a stake win, albeit a small one, in BTP’s $75.00 Tall Stack Stakes, and then followed that up by winning the $100.00 Bertrando Stakes, for CA-breds. While the purse amount was similar, he was dropped into an allowance afterward and won that, too. I’m glad to see him being given this opportunity. While he’s firing nothing but bullets in works, he’s been working a lot lately.

8-Blacketer (Serenity Stables, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Picked up by the trainer for $300.00 in a March private sale, and would follow that up by running third in the AR Derby. He would not run in the KYD, but was there on the undercard for the Grade 2 Day Mile Stakes and was a decent but frustrating fifth. Two weeks later, it was off to the PRK, where he struggled. This will be his return to graded racing since that point, and does came here off a third place effort in the $200.00 Morrissey, for NY-breds here, at the start of this month. I can really see his race going either way.

Prediction: 2-1-3-7

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES