The first time LNJ Foxwoods' Scotland jumped into the deep waters of Grade 1 competition, the son of Good Magic got schooled pretty good in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Bill Mott, the gelding's Hall of Fame trainer, is hoping for a better result when Scotland runs in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. Scotland, coming off a sixth in the Travers, is the 6-1 fourth choice on the Derby morning line.
“There's not much to say,” Mott said by phone from Saratoga about the Travers. “He went to the lead, got pressured and then backed up. Sometimes you have to go to war to get hardened.”
Before the Travers, Scotland had won four of his first five starts. When he won the Curlin Stakes July 21 at Saratoga, that got him his ticket to the Travers, his first start in a graded stakes. He won the Curlin by 3 1/4 lengths.
Before that, Scotland posted two narrow wins by a head in an allowance and a maiden and a loss by a nose in another allowance.
“He probably thought he won that one,” Mott said of the nose defeat to Tumbarumba in the seven-furlong allowance April 23 at Keeneland.
In the Curlin and the Travers, Scotland showed speed from the bell. He beat Il Miracolo, who is also running in the Pennsylvania Derby, in that race.
Scotland came from off the pace in his two other victories. Mott said it is not imperative that Scotland and regular rider Junior Alvarado have the lead in the Pennsylvania Derby.
“There is other speed in there,” he said. “In the Travers, there was only one horse that had any remarkable speed. It's a bigger field at Parx and someone will probably show some speed.”
Of the 11 horses entered in the Derby, those that have shown early speed in the past include Reincarnate, the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert; Saudi Crown, the 7-2 second choice for trainer Brad Cox; and Magic Tap, the 5-1 third choice for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen.
“I don't think we have to prove that we can make the lead here,” Mott said.
Scotland is expected to ship to Parx Friday from Mott's base at Saratoga.
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