South Bend will stick to dirt, run in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On paper and on the track, Bill Mott views South Bend as a horse who is better on dirt than he is on turf. So, when presented the options of running the 3-year-old in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers or the $500,000 Saratoga Derby on turf on Aug. 15, to him it’s a no-brainer.

“I’m not interested in running him on the grass until I exhaust the dirt options,” Mott said Sunday. “I don’t see any reason to do it.”

Thus, barring a change of heart between now and Wednesday, South Bend will start in the Travers, the marquee race of the Saratoga meet.

On Sunday, South Bend worked five furlongs in company with Tacitus, last year’s Travers runner-up as the favorite. South Bend, starting one length behind Tacitus, finished about a half-length in front, covering five furlongs in 1:00.78 over the Oklahoma training track. Tacitus, winner of the Grade 2 Suburban, went in 1:01.08 as he points to the Grade 1 Woodward here Sept. 5.

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“That he looked like he was moving well and he produced a decent time,” Mott said when asked what he was looking to see in Sunday’s workout. “You know [Tacitus] isn’t a great work horse, but he ran to him and they finished up together. I told [exercise rider Neil Poznansky] to give South Bend a little encouragement galloping out.”

South Bend, a son of Algorithms, is coming out of a second-place finish to Dean Martini in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 27. He was owned by Sagamore Farm and trained by Stanley Hough then. He was purchased privately following the race by Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel, Peter Deutsch, and Leonard Schleifer’s Pantofel Stable.

On speed figures, Wachtel feels the horse is equally as good on turf as he is dirt. The fall may present more turf options for South Bend if things don’t go well on the dirt Saturday.

Jose Ortiz, who rode Tacitus for Mott in last year’s Travers, will ride South Bend this year.

Also on Sunday, trainer Orlando Noda confirmed that First Line, a neck winner of a 1 1/8-mile maiden race here July 29, will run in the Travers.

The Travers is expected to attract an eight-horse field when entries are made and post positions drawn Wednesday. The field, in alphabetical order, with expected riders, includes, Caracaro (Javier Castellano); Country Grammer (Irad Ortiz Jr.); First Line (TBD); Max Player (Joel Rosario); Shivaree (Junior Alvarado); South Bend (Jose Ortiz); Tiz the Law (Manny Franco); and Uncle Chuck (Luis Saez).

The Travers, typically run the last weekend of August, has been moved this year to accommodate the Kentucky Derby, which was moved from the first Saturday in May to Sept. 5.

The top four finishers from the Travers earn qualifying points (100-40-20-10) to the Derby based on the system Churchill Downs uses to select the field in the event more than 20 enter the race.