Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
3-YEAR-OLDS Still no clear pecking order
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 3-year-old male division was turned upside down over the weekend when longshots Girvin and Good Samaritan won two important graded stakes while classic winners Always Dreaming and Cloud Computing and the previously undefeated Timeline faltered.
And if you’re looking to the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 26 to restore order, well, you might have come to the wrong place. The last four runnings of the Travers have been won by longshots Will Take Charge ($21.20), V. E. Day ($41), Keen Ice ($34), and Arro- gate ($25.40). Will Take Charge and Arrogate used those victories as springboards to an Eclipse Award as North America’s 3-year-old male champion.
Like last year, when a full field of 14 was entered – and 13 ran – this year’s Travers figures to draw a large field as the race for the divisional championship appears wide open.
On Sunday, Girvin, an earlyseason player in the division with two graded stakes wins at Fair Grounds, regained some lost stature by running down McCraken to win the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park by a nose. Meanwhile, Timeline, the Haskell favorite, couldn’t overcome a bad start and finished fifth, beaten 8 1/4 lengths.
Girvin returned to trainer Joe Sharp’s Saratoga barn Monday morning, but owner Brad Grady stopped short of committing the colt to the Travers. Like many horsemen here for the first two weeks of the meet, Grady expressed concern with how deep the Saratoga main track has been.
“We’ve openly talked about the Travers more than anything, but probably the surface has more to do with it than anything,” Grady said.
Grady noted that the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 23 would also be considered for Girvin, who earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure in the Haskell, the first Grade 1 win for both Grady and Sharp.
McCraken shipped to Saratoga from Monmouth on Monday as well, and trainer Ian Wilkes said he would point his colt to the Travers. Wilkes was very pleased with McCraken’s performance and said that perhaps jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. moved a touch early. McCraken had the lead in midstretch, only to get caught late.
“My horse ran a tremendous race, a winning race,” Wilkes said. “We were forced to move a little earlier than we wanted. He might have idled a little bit when he made the lead, but I don’t want to make excuses. My horse ran tremendous.”
On Saturday at Saratoga, Good Samaritan made an impressive dirt debut, rallying from last to win the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes by 4 3/4 lengths over Giuseppe the Great. Meanwhile, Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming finished third, while Cloud Computing was two heads behind him and last of five.
Good Samaritan, who earned a 100 Beyer in the Jim Dandy, and Giuseppe the Great are definitely headed to the Travers, their connections said Sunday. But the connections of Always Dreaming and Cloud Computing said they needed more time before they decided on the Travers.
Todd Pletcher, Always Dreaming’s trainer, said his horse came out of the race sound and healthy, and perhaps the demanding nature of Saratoga’s main track and a 10-week layoff worked against his horse.
“I think he ran okay, got a little tired on a deep, demanding track, hadn’t run in 70 days,” Pletcher said. “Thought he fought on pretty courageously toward the end and galloped out okay.”
Pletcher is definitely pointing Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit to the Travers. Tapwrit will enter the Travers off an 11-week layoff.
Pletcher won Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes with Outplay. Owner Mike Repole said the Travers is one of three options being considered for Outplay. The Smarty Jones on Sept. 4 at Parx and simply training up to the Pennsylvania Derby are the others.
The results of the Haskell and the Jim Dandy could leave trainer Chad Brown watching the Travers from the sidelines. In the Jim Dandy, Cloud Computing could not get by Always Dreaming on the turn and just ran evenly in the stretch, losing by 5 1/2 lengths. Timeline finished fifth in the Haskell, beaten 8 1/4 lengths.
Brown said it is not his style to run a horse in a big race such as the Travers off a bad performance, but he reserved judgment on whether to run Cloud Computing or Timeline in the Travers until he saw how the horses trained.
Practical Joke ran a good third in the Haskell, but Brown said that horse most likely will cut back to seven furlongs in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens (formerly the King’s Bishop) on the Travers card.
The Travers favorite could be West Coast, who has won three consecutive races for trainer Bob Baffert, including the Los Alamitos Derby. Baffert, of course, finished 1-2 in last year’s Travers with Arrogate, who set stakes records for time and margin of victory, winning the race by 13 1/2 lengths over stablemate American Freedom in a time of 1:59.36.
Irap, who won the Blue Grass Stakes as a maiden before running 18th in the Kentucky Derby, will enter the Travers off wins in the Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby.
Others under consideration for the Travers are recent allowance winner Fayeq and Fountain of Youth winner Gunnevera.
Lookin At Lee, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, and Patch, the third-place finisher in the Belmont Stakes, could earn their way into the Travers by running well in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer.