Trainer Carl Nafzger reported this morning that Kentucky Derby and Jim Dandy winner Street Sense is expected to breeze later this week as his colt prepares for the 138th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes, presented by the New York State Lottery. The “Mid-Summer Derby” for three-year-olds at 10 furlongs is Saratoga Race Course’s showcase race and will be run on Saturday, August 25.

Street Sense, owned by James Tafel, has been on a steady course since winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy here on July 29 by a length and a half. Also in that race were possible Travers candidates C P West and Sightseeing.

“We’ll breeze him five furlongs sometime this week,” Nafzger said. “It will be a light breeze. We’ll let him decide. Our pattern has always been to jogged him after the race, then walk him for a couple of days, then gallop and then a workout. Our horse is doing good and we’re just getting him ready for the Travers.”

Nafzger was also impressed with Any Given Saturday after watching his performance in Sunday’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. If Any Given Saturday becomes a probable for the Travers, it will be his third encounter with Street Sense

Earlier this year, on March 17, Street Sense beat Any Given Saturday by a nose in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, covering the mile and a sixteenth in track-record time of 1:43.

“I’m looking forward to the Travers; I don’t know if I am looking forward to that,” Nafzger said about a possible rematch. “Any Given Saturday sure stepped up in the Haskell. I thought Any Given Saturday ran a huge race. He looked like everything that everybody thought he was all year.”

Any Given Saturday is expected to arrive at trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn in Saratoga from Monmouth Park on Tuesday. He was an impressive 4½-length winner over Hard Spun and Curlin in Sunday’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.

Pletcher has not made a commitment for Any Given Saturday to run in the Travers. One of Pletcher’s concerns is the amount of days between the Haskell and this race. It would also be the third race -- including the Grade 2 Dwyer victory on July 4 -- within seven weeks for the Winstar Farm and Padua Stables’ colt.

“He came back fine; we don’t know what we’re doing yet,” Pletcher said. “We were hoping for a big effort. He ran well in the Dwyer and trained well since then. The 20 days (between the Haskell and Travers) is definitely a concern.”

Preakness winner Curlin, owned by Stonestreet Stable and Padua Stables, retuned to Steve Asmussen’s barn at Saratoga this morning after finishing third in the Haskell Invitational. Asmussen, still in disbelief of his colt’s run in the Haskell, has not confirmed Curlin for the Travers.

“I’m disappointed in the run; he ran flat,” Asmussen said. “We’ll evaluate him and have discussions with everyone involved with Curlin. From there, we’ll decide what is best for Curlin.”

After Hard Spun’s second-place finish in the Haskell, trainer Larry Jones is planning to send his colt to Saratoga on August 25, but it won’t be for the Travers. Instead, Jones will take a different tactic by running Hard Spun in the 23rd running of the Grade 1, $250,000 King’s Bishop for three-year-olds at seven furlongs on the Travers Day undercard.

Jones would like to follow a pattern that was successful when Hard Spun won the Grade 2 Lanes End Stakes and finished second to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby: having the colt run from sprints to longer distances in increments. He is hoping this approach will lead Hard Spun to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on October 28.

“We’re going to turn him back to seven furlongs and try to stretch him out again,” Jones said. “I’ve had luck in the past of stretching him out in each race. Anyone who has watched him knows he has speed and he can sprint. Our goal is still the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Monmouth Park, Saturday, October 27), but we’re going to take a different approach with him.

“He ran well in the Haskell; he just got tired late. If you look at both Hard Spun and Curlin in the end, they ran similar. Perhaps the Triple Crown did take a little bit out of them and maybe they needed the race.”

Trainer Kenny McPeek returned to the winners’ circle at Saratoga for the first time since 2004 when Steve and Stan Kaplan’s Loose Leaf, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, won Sunday’s $80,000-added Lemon Drop Kid Stakes for three-year-olds by 3¾ lengths over Pass the Point.

According to McPeek, he will at least nominate Loose Leaf for the Travers.

“We’ll have to see how he comes out of this race and see who else is going to run,” McPeek said. “We’ve been known to swing high and hard. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.”

If Loose Leaf becomes a candidate for the Travers, he will be the second horse McPeek has trained for the Travers. In the 2002 Travers, McPeek trained Repent to a second-place finish to Medaglia d’Oro.

Prince Arch was the last winner and the last horse that McPeek saddled at Saratoga in the Grade 3 Saranac Stakes in 2004.

A field of eight horses is expected to run in Saturday’s 33rd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational for older turf horses going 1½ miles at Saratoga.

Along with 2005 winner Better Talk Now, Always First, English Channel, Grand Courtier, Ramazutti and Trippi’s Storm are probable for the Sword Dancer. Other possible contenders include Embossed and Fri Guy.

Funny Cide, the 2003 Eclipse Award winner and the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, will be honored by the New York Racing Association and the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding & Racing Program with a retirement party in the backyard at Saratoga Race Course on Friday.

The 7-year-old gelding, who made more than $3.5 million, will make his first public appearance during the post parade since Sackatoga Stable racing manager Jack Knowlton and trainer Barclay Tagg announced his retirement last month.

Racing fans will receive a free Funny Cide retirement poster, courtesy of the Daily Racing Form, with each paid admission while supplies last. Members of Sackatoga Stable and Funny Cide’s former jockey, Jose Santos, who recently retired and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame early today, will autograph posters in front of the Silks room. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

The retirement party will be held near the Big Red Spring after Friday’s live racing. Fans can purchase food and drinks during the party. All proceeds from the sale of Budweiser beer will benefit the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.