Stewart tabs Jim Dandy for Commanding Curve

Finally climbing off the fence, trainer Dallas Stewart

committed Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve to a run in the Grade 2,

$600,000 Jim Dandy on Saturday instead of the $100,000 Curlin the day before.

The West Point Thoroughbred runner is coming off a

ninth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, and Stewart said his Master Command

ridgling has flourished in

his training at Saratoga.

"I wanted to be in the (Curlin) if the Jim Dandy was a much

larger field (seven are entered), or we didn't draw the way we want to or

weather," Stewart explained. "But I feel like this all fits together.

"Tonalist is a

great horse. He won the Belmont, but he hasn't won here. He hasn't beaten us

here. We had a bad race at Belmont. I feel like my horse likes this racetrack."

Commanding Curve will carry 117 pounds, six pounds fewer

than Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and Wood Memorial hero Wicked Strong. Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Commanding Curve.

"(Bridgmohan) worked him, and he's very positive about him,

and everything I can see in the stall -- eating well, all that stuff -- is good

for me," Stewart added. "If we get beat, we get beat. We want to give him a

chance to swing forward to the Travers."

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