Mott likes what he saw in Good Samaritan, says Travers next

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Good Samaritan came out of his 4 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes in good order and will be pointed to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 26 at Saratoga, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday morning.

Whether he again will face Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and/or Preakness winner Cloud Computing in the Travers will not be known for a few more weeks, as the connections for those horses seek explanations for their colts' disappointing performances Saturday.

Good Samaritan made a smashing dirt debut, coming from more than a dozen lengths back to rally six wide and win going away under Joel Rosario. He earned a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure for the victory, his third from seven career starts.

“I think it’s every bit as good as it looked,” Mott said the morning after his 64th birthday.

Mott liked how his colt rallied from well back behind a slow pace, something he had not been able to do successfully in his two most recent defeats on turf. In fact, Mott said he prompted his owners, WinStar Farm and Sheep Pond Partners, to run in the Jim Dandy as opposed to waiting for the Travers because of what he thought would be a sharp early pace as well as the short field.

“I encouraged [them] to go in this race because the horse was doing well and the pace scenario looked like it would be better than it turned out to be and it was not a huge field,” Mott said. “If he ran well, we still have enough time to [go] back in the Travers if we want to.”

Looking ahead to the Travers, Mott feels that the 1 1/4 miles of that race should be in his favor.

“The way he ran yesterday, you wouldn’t think it would be against him,” Mott said.

Meanwhile, Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Always Dreaming, who finished third in the Jim Dandy, and Chad Brown, the trainer of Cloud Computing, who finished fifth, were not sure if the Travers was in their plans.

Always Dreaming was “sound and healthy this morning,” Pletcher said Sunday. Pletcher noted that Always Dreaming hadn’t run in 10 weeks and that the Saratoga track was “deep and demanding.” He said it’s too early to make a decision on what would be next.

“At the end of the day he finished third, wasn’t beat that badly,” Pletcher said. “We knew we were walking the fine line of trying to freshen him and get him ready for this. The track’s been a little more demanding than you would expect it to be at Saratoga, that could have played a role. Not making any excuses, just regroup.”

Cloud Computing finished two heads behind Always Dreaming in fifth. Brown said Cloud Computing was fine physically Sunday morning and he believes his colt simply labored over Saratoga’s main track.

Brown sounded as if a start in the Travers was unlikely.

“I’m not one to run horses off a bad race in a big race,” Brown said before left for Monmouth Park to saddle Practical Joke and Timeline in the Haskell.

“We were looking for that, win or lose, to get us into the [Travers] on a good pattern. For him to run the worst race of his life, it’s hard to think about the Travers right now. Won’t rule it out, we’ll just see how the horse is doing and go from there.”

Nick Zito, the trainer of Jim Dandy runner-up Giuseppe the Great, said he would likely run his horse back in the Travers.

“Right now, at this moment, we go forward,” Zito said. “He certainly fought on. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can go the distance. To me, let’s keep going forward. If it doesn’t work, we’ll sit in the bleachers again.”