Good Samaritan Wins 4-Year-Old Debut In New Orleans ‘Cap

By Ryan Martin —-

3/24/2018. – Good Samaritan pulls away to win the 93rd running of the Grade II New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodgds Weir

GOOD SAMARITAN WINS 4-YEAR-OLD DEBUT IN NEW ORLEANS ‘CAP

NEW ORLEANS (March 24, 2018) – In his 4-year-old debut, two-time graded stakes winner Good Samaritan sent warning that he could be a force in the handicap division this year, going from last to first under a hand ride from Joel Rosario to win the Grade II, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap by 2¼ lengths. Hollywood Handsome finished a clear second in a strung-out field, five lengths ahead of Scuba.

Good Samaritan stopped the timer in 1:49.87 for the meet’s top event for older horses.

“It was nice to see them pressing toward the middle of the backside,” said Riley Mott, who saddled the winner for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, his father. “Joel knows the horse and he knows he’ll give him a run. We were confident he’d put in the run that he did and he had the long stretch to do it and it all worked out.”

Good Samaritan made some noise in a scrambled 3-year-old division last year, moving from turf to dirt to win the Jim Dandy before going off favored in the Travers (G1) won by West Coast. His rally for a close second in the Clark against older horses in November suggested a Grade I win could be within his ability.

“He’s a pure racehorse,” Riley Mott said. “He can run on dirt, turf, multiple distances. We really have an array of options but we’d love to get a Grade 1 on the dirt with him; that’s the primary goal.”

Good Samaritan paid $4.60, $3.20, and $2.20, while Hollywood Handsome returned $7.40 and $4.20 and Scuba was worth $2.80 to show. A win in the New Orleans Handicap also made Good Samaritan the newest member of racing’s million dollar club as he has now acquired $1,191,116 in lifetime earnings.

Han Sense was more than 16 lengths behind the winner in a short field of five.

Popular multiple graded stakes winner and race favorite The Player set the pace into the far turn before stopping badly and being pulled up at the top of the stretch.

“He broke both sesamoids in his right front leg,” trainer William “Buff” Bradley said after the races. “He’s at the LSU clinic and is comfortable. He is going to have surgery to fuse the ankle on Monday. You worry about complications, but I talked to Carl (Hurst, co-owner) and we are going to do everything we can for him within reason.”

Photo Courtesy of Hodges Photography