LaPenta decides to run Miner's Reserve in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jim Dandy runner-up Miner’s Reserve will run in Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes, owner Robert LaPenta confirmed Friday afternoon.

LaPenta will also be represented in the Travers by Florida Derby winner Ice Box.

There had been some discussion between LaPenta and trainer Nick Zito about scratching Miner’s Reserve out of the Travers to await the $300,000 Smarty Jones at Philadelphia Park on Sept. 6. But in the end, LaPenta wanted to run in the Travers.

“It was a very difficult decision because I think he would have been favored in the Smarty Jones,” LaPenta said before watching Our Dark Knight finish second in Friday’s Pleasant Colony Stakes. “My only concern is how he comes out of the race. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. If you have two horses to run in the Midsummer Derby I think you got to take a shot.”