Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Travers to feature all three Triple Crown race winners
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown officially came down off the fence on Monday and said Preakness winner Cloud Computing will run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
Cloud Computing joins a field that will include Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit, making this the first time since 1982 that three separate winners of the Triple Crown races competed in the Travers.
Cloud Computing finished last of five in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy here on July 29. Brown said he is not typically inclined to run a horse back in a major race at a track over which the horse had previously run a poor race. But Brown believes the track has changed significantly in the last four weeks, and he’s been happy with the way Cloud Computing has trained over it. Last Saturday, Cloud Computing breezed five furlongs in 1:01.76 over the main track, with a very solid gallop-out.
“Ultimately, the decision came down to the horse really deserving a chance to run,” Brown said. “He stepped up and breezed great twice. I feel like he earned his way into the race on his own.”
Brown, like others, felt that the Saratoga main track was deep and demanding early in the meet, including Jim Dandy Day. Brown, like others, believes it has tightened up since.
“I felt a demanding surface that day just wasn’t for him,” Brown said. “I’m hopeful that the track we’ll be racing over on Saturday will be more to his liking.”
While Brown confirmed Cloud Computing for the race, owner Mike Repole said Monday it is “90 percent” certain that Curlin Stakes winner Outplay will skip the Travers and point to the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 23.
Thus, a field of 12 is expected to be entered in the Travers on Tuesday, when post positions are drawn at a reception at Salt & Char, a downtown Saratoga Springs restaurant.
The field, with riders, is expected to be: Always Dreaming (John Velazquez), Cloud Computing (Javier Castellano), Fayeq (Luis Saez), Girvin (Robby Albarado), Giuseppe the Great (Tyler Gaffalione), Good Samaritan (Joel Rosario), Gunnevera (Edgard Zayas), Irap (Mario Gutierrez), Lookin At Lee (Ricardo Santana Jr.), McCraken (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Tapwrit (Jose Ortiz), and West Coast (Mike Smith).
On Monday, Lookin At Lee worked a half-mile in the fog over the Oklahoma training track. He was credited with a time of 50.99 seconds. Lookin At Lee, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, is coming off a third-place finish in the West Virginia Derby three weeks ago.
“The three weeks between the Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby worked for Lee,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “We followed the same exact training schedule between these two races and those two.”
On Sunday at Saratoga, Jim Dandy winner Good Samaritan had his final Travers breeze, going five furlongs in 1:01.67 over the Oklahoma training track in company with the 3-year-old filly Boule.
“He did it the right way, was well within himself, showed good energy, and was moving well,” trainer Bill Mott said.
At Del Mar on Sunday, West Coast was credited with a halfmile in 48.20 seconds, though trainer Bob Baffert said the move was more like a sixfurlong breeze with a gallop-out to seven furlongs. The work was done in company with American Anthem, whom Baffert is sending here for the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on the same card.
“They went really nice,” Baffert said. “[West Coast] has been doing well. He needs pace. It’s the kind of race you don’t know how it’s going to set up. It’s Saratoga – you don’t know what you’re going to get.”