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Welcome to the Mid-Summer Derby! Tonight the 148th edition of America’s oldest 3 year-old stakes takes place in the Graveyard of Champions.
The Travers Stakes was inaugurated in 1864. It is a Grade 1 dirt race for 3 year-old Thoroughbreds held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY. The race was named for former Saratoga Racing Association President, William R. Travers. Travers owned the first Travers Stakes winner, Kentucky. The 2017 edition is 1 and 1/4th miles (10 furlongs). The purse is a sweet $1.25 million dollars!
The Travers Stakes is not part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” series but it has historically proven to be an important race for identifying talent among the best 3 year-olds. Often times, winners of the Travers go on to contend or even win in the BC Classic. Several Travers winners have gone on to be named Eclipse Champion 3 YO. In 1941, Whirlaway won the Travers after sweeping the Triple Crown. Such a successful series is called the Superfecta. Whirlaway is the only Thoroughbred in history to achieve that title. This year there was no Triple Crown winner. However, for just the third time ever, each leg that was won by a different horse in every race have all come together to compete in the Travers. Kentucky Derby winner, Always Dreaming, Preakness winner, Cloud Computing and Belmont winner, Tapwrit will each race in the Travers.
Nine other talented Thoroughbreds will take on our best at 2 YO classic stakes winners, all with a little more maturity. How has time changed these champions? The Travers field is as follows by post position/horse/jockey/trainer/morning-line odds:
- Cloud Computing/Javier Castellano/Chad Brown/8-1
- Guiseppe the Great/Tyler Gaffalione/Nick Zito/20-1
- West Coast/Mike Smith/Bob Baffert/4-1
- Tapwrit/Jose Ortiz/Todd Pletcher/7-2
- Good Samaritan/Joel Rosario/Bill Mott/5-1
- Girvin/Robby Albarado/Joe Sharp/10-1
- Always Dreaming/John Velasquez/Todd Pletcher/6-1
- Lookin At Lee/Ricardo Santana Jr./Steve Asmussen/30-1
- McCraken/Brian Hernandez Jr./Ian Wilkes/12-1
- Irap/Mario Guiterrez/Doug O’Neill/8-1
- Gunnevera/Edgard Zayas/Antonio Sano/20-1
- Fayeq/Luis Saez/Kiaran McLaughlin/30-1
In addition to a nice chunk of the purse the winner will receive a gold plated replica of the Man o’ War Cup. This trophy was created for the showdown between Sir Barton and Man o’ War at Kenslworth Park. It has been awarded to the Travers winner since 1936.
Today’s, Saturday 8/26/17, Travers Stakes posts at 5:44 P.M. EDT. It is the 11th race on a card of lucky 13. Gates opened a trade 7 A.M. with race 1 posting a time 11:35 A.M. and the final race posting at 6:54 P.M.
Good luck to all at Saratoga today. It may be the Mid-Summer Derby but the action at that track will soon end for the season. Enjoy it while you can.
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