Good Samaritan claims Jim Dandy Stakes win
Good Samaritan races past Kentucky Derby, Preakness champs at Saratoga Race Course
Good Samaritan stormed to the lead in the stretch and won the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
On paper, Saturday’s $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes looked like the very definition of a match race.
Going up against classic winners Always Dreaming and Cloud Computing, the two maiden winners (Giuseppe the Great and Pavel) and a horse who had yet to run on dirt (Good Samaritan) appeared to be in well over their heads.
Or so it seemed. The first sign that this race might produce something strange occurred when Always Dreaming saw his four-length lead on the backstretch disappear. Cloud Computing and Pavel moved up to challenge on the turn, and those three straightened out lined up across the track.
Giuseppe the Great was still in with a chance, but it was Good Samaritan who had the final word. Flying down the center of the track, the son of Harlan’s Holiday exploded by the rest of the field, drawing off to win by 4 ¾ lengths.
For winning trainer Bill Mott, it looked like Good Samaritan “had grown wings.”
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the way he ran,” said the Hall of Fame conditioner. “It was a terrific race for him. I was a little concerned when they were going down the middle of the backside, and they hung up slow fractions.
“They did start to pick it up leaving the half-mile pole. He ran into a very slow pace and ran well.”
Winning jockey Joel Rosario, regular rider of Good Samaritan, showed patience in letting his mount linger at the back of the field for much of the race – as he had in his previous six starts on turf.
The notes on the Equibase chart described the pair as taking a “serene, almost Buddhist approach to the early part of the race.” Good Samaritan trailed by 12 ½ lengths after Always
Dreaming’s 48.53 half mile, and by 8½ after his threequarters in a pokey 1:13.27.
With everyone’s attention on the battle being waged up front by his four rivals, few noticed that Good Samaritan was about to take over the race.
The WinStar Farm homebred, after wheeling six-wide into the stretch, made up ground in alarming chunks as he approached and then blew by his earthbound rivals. The winning time was 1 minute, 50.69 seconds.
“He doesn’t have a lot of [early] speed,” said Rosario, “so I just let him be, and be where he is happy. He wants to always put in one last run. When I passed the threeeighths pole, he gave me a very good feeling.”
Good Samaritan, who broke his maiden at first asking at Saratoga last summer, increased his bankroll to $767,616. His record improves to 3-2-1 in seven starts.
His other stakes win was the Canadian Grade 2 Summer Stakes at Woodbine.
Good Samaritan races for WinStar Farm, Head of Plains Partners LLC, China Horse Club and others.
Good Samaritan (8-1) paid $19.20 to win. A $2 exacta with Giuseppe the Great (141) was good for $145.00. Always
Dreaming, Pavel and Cloud Computing finished in that order.
Coal Front cruises in Amsterdam Stakes
After Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez teamed up to win three of the first four races, the obvious question was whether the duo could make it four of five in the $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes (G2).
And why not? After all their horse, Coal Front, was the odds-on choice at 3-5.
As it turned out, there was nothing to it. Sent to the front by Velazquez, and kept company for the first five furlongs, Coal Front ran away from the field in the stretch, extending his lead to three lengths at the eighth pole. The son of first-crop sire Stay Thirsty let up a bit in the late going, allowing Excitations to close to within a length and a half at the wire, but was never seriously threatened. The running time was 1 minute, 16.05 seconds for 6½ furlongs over a fast main track.
“We weren’t committed to the lead,” said Pletcher. “The thing we were focused on was letting him break and kind of find his rhythm. We knew he was fast, but we didn’t want to be in a speed duel. But we didn’t want to take away what is coming easy to him [either]. We kind of left it in Johnny’s
hands. [He’s] a really talented horse.”
El Deal wins Vanderbilt
With the late scratch of A. P. Indian – the morningline favorite and defending champion in the race – favoritism in the $350,000 A. G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) was almost equally divided between El Deal (5-2), Bird Song (2-1) and Limousine Liberal (8-5).
Not long after the gates opened, however, it became clear that this was a onehorse race.
Gunned to the front by Javier Castellano, El Deal quickly established a short lead over longshot Green Gratto (27-1), getting a quarter in 22.50 seconds.
Green Gratto managed to stay within range through a half in :45.28, but when El Deal cornered perfectly – and the rest of the field fanned wide – the lead grew to six lengths at the eighth pole.
After that, it was simply a matter of how much the 5-year-old son of Munnings would win by. The margin was eight lengths at the wire, with Awesome Banner finishing a head in front of Limousine Liberal for the runner-up spot. The time for six furlongs over a fast main track was a rapid 1 minute, 9.26 seconds.
Bird Song, Spartiatis, Ready for Rye and Green Gratto also ran.