Jazil headed for Travers

Belmont S. (G1) hero JAZIL (Seeking the Gold) entered Saturday's "Test of

Champions" without owning a stakes win. After his 1 1/4-length victory in the

Belmont, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has big plans for the bay colt, including a

bid for the "Mid-Summer Derby", the August 26 Travers S. (G1) at Saratoga.

"We'll give him a couple of easy weeks," McLaughlin explained. "He's never

missed a day of training. I'd imagine we'd run in either the (August 6) Haskell

(Invitational [G1]) or the (July 29) Jim Dandy (G2) before the Travers."

McLaughlin, who trains Jazil for Sheik Hamdan Al Maktoum's Shadwell Stable,

was pleased with both his charge and the ride by 18-year-old jockey Fernando Jara.

"It's great for him," the conditioner said. "He's a good kid. He's only

ridden in five graded stakes his whole life. Yesterday, I went down to see him

to see if he was nervous or he wanted to talk, but he was as cool as you could

be. It was very nice of the owners leaving him on. Edgar Prado was available for

a while, but they wanted to stay with Fernando."

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who was going for his first victory in a Triple Crown race with two

entrants in the Belmont, said BLUEGRASS CAT (Storm Cat) and SUNRIVER (Saint

Ballado) exited their respective second and third-place finishes in good condition.

"I thought both horses ran well," said Pletcher, adding that the top

three Belmont finishers could face a rematch in the Jim Dandy or Haskell and

then in the Travers.

Pletcher, who became friends with McLaughlin while working together

under Hall of Famer trainer D. Wayne Lukas, called the Belmont-winning trainer

to offer his congratulations after the race.

"We worked together for almost three years," Pletcher said. "Kiaran is a nice

person and he's always got a smile on his face. He's very even tempered and he's

a good guy. Our families are very close."

STEPPENWOLFER (Aptitude), who went one worse than his Kentucky Derby (G1)

third when fourth in the Belmont, could also show up in the Travers, but trainer

Danny Peitz isn't ruling out other options.

"My first thought is the (July 15) Virginia Derby ([G2] on the grass)," Peitz

said. "The timing of it is pretty good. That would give him five weeks to the

Virginia Derby and then six weeks to the Travers."

Peitz was a bit disappointed with how the race turned out on Saturday, but was still

pleased with his charge's effort.

"I think he ran hard," Peitz explained. "After the race, I was a little

disappointed because he didn't get the trip I was envisioning. A guy like me is

not going to get here that often.

"Did (Steppenwolfer) run hard, yes," he added. "Did he embarrass me, no. One

of these big races will have our name on it."

Eighth-place finisher BOB AND JOHN (Seeking the Gold), who went off as the

slight post-time favorite at 9-2,

came out of his pacesetting run in the Belmont in good order, according to John Terranova, in whose barn the Bob Baffert trainee is based when in New York. The

dark bay colt, who finished ahead of Jazil when winning the Wood Memorial S.

(G1), boarded a plane with stablemate

and fellow sophomore TOO MUCH BLING (Rubiano), the runner-up in Saturday's Woody

Stephens Breeders' Cup S. (G2), to head back to Baffert's Santa Anita barn on

Sunday.

DEPUTY GLITTERS (Deputy Commander), who beat only the eased DOUBLE GALORE (Grand

Slam) in the Belmont, was doing well Sunday, but trainer Tom Albertrani thinks

something was amiss with his charge during the race.

"Something wasn't quite right with him," Albertrani explained. "He stopped

pretty quickly after only going a mile. He looked fine this morning. We think he

might have displaced at some point in the race where it cut his air off. We'll

see how he trains next week and then make some plans for him."