Good Samaritan rerouted to Jockey Club Gold Cup

ELMONT, N.Y. – Good Samaritan, the Jim Dandy Stakes winner who finished fifth in the Travers Stakes, is being pointed to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 7, said Elliott Walden, president and CEO of WinStar Farm, which shares ownership of the 3-year-old.

Good Samaritan was supposed to run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx before coming down with a temperature that forced him to miss some training time, Walden said.

“He had a slight temperature for 24 hours,” Walden said. “It was just enough to not want to run two weeks later.”

Good Samaritan breezed a half-mile in 49.40 seconds on Sept. 10 at Saratoga, but had a 102-degree fever the following day, Walden said. He missed a scheduled workout last weekend.

Walden said he had concerns about running in the Pennsylvania Derby anyway, noting that it would have been Good Samaritan’s fourth race in 11 weeks. Good Samaritan ran fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on July 8 before winning the Jim Dandy against Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Preakness winner Cloud Computing on July 29. In the Travers, he finished ahead of those two horses again but was beaten ninth lengths by winner West Coast.

“Sometimes your bad luck’s your good luck,” Walden said. “The horse is fine now.”

Good Samaritan would be the first 3-year-old to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup since 2014. Among those expected to run are Keen Ice and Destin.