Patience the Winning Virtue for Good Samaritan, Girvin

Last-to-first efforts produced wins in the highly anticipated headline races for 3-year-olds over the weekend. So which horse ran the better race?

The edge here goes to Good Samaritan (Harlan's Holiday), with his breakaway, dirt-debut 4 3/4-length tally in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday at 8-1 odds. He adds intrigue to a division that is compelling yet lacks a dominant force, and his upside potential for rounding into a main-track heavy hitter practically leaps off the past performance page.

Yet in terms of which victor might be better suited to parlay mid-summer momentum into success against championship- caliber older foes deeper into the season, you'd be wise not to discount Girvin (Tale of Ekati), who is rounding into an unflappable, professional sort who is a bit more of a known quantity. He essentially made two well-timed moves to snag Sunday's GI Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park by a nose at 9-1 odds, and his ability to handle varying pace scenarios and multiple levels of in-race pressure is progressing in an upward arc.

The connections of both colts have indicated preliminarily that the Aug. 26 GI Travers S. could be their next starts.

The possibility looms that Saratoga's signature race could also include the winners of each of the Triple Crown races, too.

On paper, the Jim Dandy set up as a score-settling rematch of GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister), and the horse who bested him in the GI Preakness S., Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music). Yet the race very much had a “prep” vibe to it because both of those Classic-winning favorites seemed to be treating the nine-furlong race over the track as a stepping stone to the Travers.

In theory at least, this mindset should have signaled that the Bill Mott-trained Good Samaritan could be recognized as a “live” win candidate based on sharp June and July closing efforts in graded grass stakes. That way of thinking was further underscored when Mott explained in the lead-up to the race that he and the colt's ownership group had been wanting to try their turf-only (2-2-1 record from six grass starts) runner on the dirt for some time now, but that minor setbacks had prevented them from doing so.

The frontrunning Always Dreaming broke flawlessly and had everything his own way, pace-wise. So too did Cloud Computing, who settled in a rhythmic stalk mode and still appeared very comfortable even while letting Always Dreaming open up by a leisurely four lengths some five furlongs from the wire. At this point, Good Samaritan was content to lag as the disengaged trailer in the five-horse field, although the Equibase chart caller's comment that he “took a serene almost buddhist like approach to the early part of the race” might be pushing the limits of in-race editorializing.

The tempo escalated three-eighths out as Cloud Computing narrowed the gap and Pavel (Creative Cause) mixed it up with a far-turn bid, but let's face it: If you're the Derby winner going off at 11-10 odds and you establish successive front-end, quarter-mile splits of :24.13, :24.40, and :24.87, you are expected to swat away those challengers and still have something left late to square off against a stretch-drive closer.

Yet Always Dreaming didn't have enough oomph remaining to survive the four-way gang-up when Giuseppe the Great (Lookin At Lucky) joined the fray, and none of the second-through-fifth horses (they all finished within a length of one another) looked as if they were in the same league as Good Samaritan when the bay rolled by with a six-wide sweep without being boisterously roused or pushed on by jockey Joel Rosario.

The power of Good Samaritan's victory stems more from a “how he did it” manner rather than “how many lengths” or “how fast” the final time was (100 Beyer Speed Figure). The race did not set up for a deep closer. The two legitimate favorites in no way burned themselves out with taxing fractions. Good Samaritan had a full head of steam when finally let loose for his stretch run, and his geared-down finish suggests 10 furlongs in four weeks could be well within the scope of his ability.

More than a few mentions of the not-really-relevant “Bill Mott always seems to win a race on his birthday at Saratoga!” statistic were flying around the track and on social media after Good Samaritan's mild upset victory. (The actual numbers, according to the Saratoga press notes, are 16 wins in 24 years, yet Mott had been blanked on July 29 since 2013). But if you want to delve into a more tantalizing historical comparison involving Mott and turf-to-dirt stakes prowess, dare we mention Good Samaritan in the same sentence as the mighty Cigar (Palace Music)?

Mott's surface-switch “experiment” paid iconic dividends 23 years ago.

Now Good Samaritan only needs 15 more consecutive wins (and an awe-inspiring aura of invincibility) to catch up.

The 50th running of the Haskell, by contrast, shaped up as the deeper race on paper. In accordance with its Grade I status, it had more of a “target race” feel than the prep-like Jim Dandy. Even though it did not boast a winner of a 2017 Triple Crown race, the seven entrants, training-wise, appeared a bit more tightly wound. Six of them had clashed in the Kentucky Derby, and the seventh entrant, Timeline (Hard Spun) was an undefeated up-and-comer who went off favored at 19-10 odds.

The gate break featured minor crowding and swerving from post four inward. But the stutter-step start by Battle of Midway (Smart Strike) was the key determinant as to how the early pace would unfold because the keen, lead-loving frontrunner then had to bull his way to the fence to secure a ground-saving spot inside of Irish War Cry (Curlin). Timeline was expected to be a pace presence too, but the ground he lost at the start meant he had to work overly hard to try and create his own seam between those rivals. When he finally forged his way through, the field was settling onto the backstretch run.

At this point in the race, the advantage decidedly belonged to Irish War Cry. Since January, we had been hearing all about how “Irish” needed to learn to rate effectively to run his best races. And now, here was the New Jersey-bred who had been targeting this very race all season long, sitting chilly like an old pro and primed to pounce, letting the pair of start-compromised pacemakers slug it out on the front end while he stalked just outside as a gift-trip third.

As Timeline and Battle of Midway dueled each other into defeat, there was movement afoot from the back of the pack, as McCraken (Ghostzapper) and Girvin uncorked rallies from sixth- and seventh place, respectively. McCraken set sail for the far turn with a four wide, full-momentum sweep.

But jockey Robby Albarado did not commit fully to his move, and appeared to be only cueing Girvin to quicken into a better position behind the perceived main danger, Irish War Cry.

That tactic–backed by Girvin's nimble willingness to respond to it–is what ended up winning the Haskell. Irish War Cry and McCraken flew off the top of the turn clearly separating themselves from the pack. McCraken smartly put away Irish War Cry approaching the eighth pole and appeared home free. But he couldn't produce another gear to seal the deal, and only started to dig in belatedly when Practical Joke (Into Mischief) and Girvin furiously began closing the gap.

A fully uncoiled Girvin strode home decisively to snatch victory in the shadow of the wire (95 Beyer). His stretch run exhibited both the patience and confidence you want to see in a 3-year-old who is on target to step up against elders after the Travers and into the championship part of the campaign.

Discounting his roughed-up trip that resulted in a 13th-place aberration in the muddy Kentucky Derby, Girvin has now won four starts and has been beaten by only a nose and by three-quarters of a length in his only other two defeats. As July morphs into August, this colt is coming across as an athletic stayer who is not at the mercy of needing races to set up in his favor in order to deliver his “A” game.