Photo: NYRA
The 157th edition of the Grade 1 Travers Stakes is set for Saturday at Saratoga. The $1.25 million race attracted a deep and talented field of sophomore colts looking to prove themselves nine weeks in advance of the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
As two of the most prestigious events in American racing, both contested at 1 1/4-miles, and run just over two months apart, you would expect the Travers to be fertile ground for success in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The results, however, do not quite live up to expectations.
That’s not to say running in the signature race at Saratoga isn’t a useful prep for America’s richest race, but winning both of them has proven to be extremely rare.
Arrogate Stands Alone
In the 42-year history of the World Championships, Arrogate remains the only horse to win both the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Travers. The powerful gray won both in impressive fashion one decade ago.
Taking that surprising statistic a step farther, some of the biggest beaten favorites in the history of the Breeders’ Cup Classic were winners of the Mid-Summer Derby at Saratoga, and the trend started early on.
Travers winners upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic
In the second running of the richest race of the World Championships, the Travers winner Chief’s Crown was bet down to 9-5 odds in the Classic, but could do better than fourth in the 1985 edition. The winner that year at Aqueduct was fellow sophomore Proud Truth, who was freshened during that summer and never raced at Saratoga.
Other well-known winners of the Travers were beaten at even lower odds. In 1989, Easy Goer came to Gulfstream Park for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on a five-race Grade 1 winning streak which included an easy win in the Mid-Summer Derby. Heavily favored at odds of 1-2, he was famously and narrowly defeated for a third time by his great rival Sunday Silence.
Bernardini was also riding high after five straight graded stakes scores, including a 7 1/2-length romp in the 2006 edition of the Travers. Sent off as the even-money favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the champion son of A.P. Indy fell a bit short, as the older South American import Invasor finished strongly in the closing stages at Churchill Downs.
Six Travers participants won the Breeders’ Cup Classic the same year
There have been success stories at the Breeders’ Cup from horses coming out of the Travers it has just not happened often. In the first 42 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, exactly one-third have been won by 3-year-olds. Of the 14 sophomores to win, only six of them, including Arrogate, had competed that summer at Saratoga.
Concern became the first 3-year-old to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic after having run in the Travers. In 1994, the confirmed late-runner could not quite catch Holy Bull in a thrilling edition of the Mid-Summer Derby. That rival was not at the Breeders’ Cup a few months later, however, and Concern made the most of the opportunity, rallying to victory at Churchill Downs.
Neither Cat Thief (1999), nor Bayern (2014) did much running in their editions of the Travers, but after finishing off the board at Saratoga, they both came back to pull off upsets in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita, respectively.
Then, of course, there was American Pharoah who won everything as a 3-year-old but the Travers. After sweeping the Triple Crown and winning the Haskell, the Bob Baffert-trained star was shocked by Keen Ice in the 2015 edition of the Travers. The champion redeemed himself in his next race by romping home in the first Breeders’ Cup Classic held at Keeneland.
More recently, Sierra Leone also used the Travers Stakes as a final prep before winning the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic. His rally fell short when third at Saratoga behind Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna, but turned the tables on the Mid-Summer Derby winner at Del Mar. He also came back to the World Championships the following year to run a good second behind Forever Young.
Fierceness and Medaglia d’Oro ran well after Travers victories
Easy Goer and Bernardini were not the only Travers winners to perform well in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in defeat. Leading the way were Medaglia d’Oro and Fierceness, who both competed in the World Championships twice.
In 2002, Medaglia d’Oro won the Travers before finishing second in his next race to the upset winner of the Classic, Volponi. Trained by the late Bobby Frankel, the consistent son of El Prado came back the following year to finish second again in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, this time behind Pleasantly Perfect.
Fierceness followed up his thrilling win at Saratoga over Thorpedo Anna and Sierra Leone by finishing a game second in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The champion ran well at the Breeders’ Cup again the following year, finishing third behind Forever Young and Sierra Leone.
Will Take Charge is another example of a horse showing up at the Breeders’ Cup after winning the Travers. A last-jump upset winner of the Mid-Summer Derby, the son of Unbridled’s Song continued on that season by winning the Pennsylvania Derby and running a bang-up second to the older Mucho Macho Man in the 2013 Classic.
We can’t forget about Alysheba
Finally, the champion Alysheba also deserves mention here. He had no luck over a wet track in the 1987 Travers won by Java Gold, but brought his best to consecutive editions of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. As a 3-year-old, he was narrowly defeated by the older champion Ferdinand at Hollywood Park, before getting all the money over a strong field the following year at Churchill Downs.
Saturday’s Travers Stakes looks to be another intriguing edition, featuring the top 3-year-old males in the nation. The winner will add a significant feather in their cap in victory in the historic and prestigious race. Don’t count on them parlaying the win into success at the Breeders’ Cup Classic, however. The odds would seem to be stacked against them.
Author: Brian Zipse for Agentes 305
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