It’s the Travers, older than the Kentucky Derby or Preakness or Belmont Stakes.

Heck it’s the oldest of all the three-year-old stake races in this country.

And it’s run at Saratoga Race Course, where ghosts of the past walk daily with spirited horse players, each seeking their just reward.

So, even in 90-degree, “jungle” weather, with ominous signs of thunderstorms lingering throughout the afternoon, 38,909 fans and ESPN’s national audience weren’t about to miss Saturday afternoon’s 138th version of the $1 million, 1 ¼-mile “Mid-Summer Derby” for three-year-olds, presented by New York Lottery.

After all, here was the Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense, taking on six other three-year-old colts. Three of these were trained by Hall of Famers Shug McGaughey, a three- time Travers winner, who was sending out improving Sightseeing, and Nick Zito, who won the 2004 Travers with Birdstone and was firing two shot at Street Sense in Helsinki and C P West.

There was also Grasshopper, trained by well-respected Neil Howard, and Loose Leaf, whose trainer, Ken McPeek, posted the greatest upset in Belmont Stakes history with 70-1 Sarava in 2002, was a Travers runner-up with Repent that year and a fourth-place finisher with Wild and Wicked in 2003.

But Street Sense’s owner, James B. Tafel and his friend and trainer, Carl Nafzger, won this race before, with Unshaded, in 2000. They knew what it was and they knew the kind of horse they had.

Their jockey, Calvin Borel, was making his first Travers start.

He just did his thing.

Borel placed Street Sense in a forward position, kept him clear of horses and then attacked upstart front-runner Grasshopper and jockey Robbie Albarado in the stretch. Grasshopper out-ran C P West early, established position and set a smart pace of :23.68, :48.18, 1:12.43 and 1:36.93, and didn’t back away from Street Sense. The colts fought it out to the sixteenth-pole, when Borel kept at Street Sense with a right-hand before switching to his left.

Street Sense surged and got the half-length victory in 2:02.69. He returned $2.70.

“He was really stressed after the race,” Nafzger said. “That’s why we got him out of the winners’ circle real quick and got him to the water hoses. He was starting to get an effect of the heat. He walked off good.”

And walked into history.

Street Sense, taking dead-aim at Horse of the Year, is the 10th horse in history to win the Kentucky Derby and Travers, the eighth horse of 14 since 1960 to use the Jim Dandy as a prep for the Travers and win both races and the ninth horse to win the Travers after being the two-year-old champion.

Street Sense also allowed Nafzger to become only the second trainer in the last 31 years to win the Alabama (with Lady Joanne) and Travers in the same season. Hall of Famer Leroy Jolley accomplished it in 1976 with Honest Pleasure (Travers) and Optimistic Gal (Alabama).

“I never worry about where Calvin’s going to have him,” Nafzger said of Borel’s decision to put his mount into the race early and keep him out of harm’s way. “That’s Calvin’s business. When I saw where he was and saw the pace setting up slow, I knew Calvin had him right where he had to be. That’s one of Calvin’s fortes -- how to read a pace. I think when we drew the 4-hole, it automatically set up. It’s like I tell Calvin, ‘You enjoy riding the horse. This horse has taken us here. Have fun and ride your race.’

Nafzger said he would weigh four options for Street Sense, all with the goal of reaching the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on October 27. They are the $500,000, nine-furlong Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs on September 22; the Grade 2, $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup at 10 furlongs on September 29; Belmont Park’s the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational at 10 furlongs on September 20 and the Grade 2, $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at nine furlong at Turfway Park on September 29.

“We’ll look at all of them, but let’s enjoy this one,” Nafzger said. “The Classic will be where we’ll try to go.”

Street Sense’s talent is clear, but in the Travers, it was his heart on display. “He nearly always will finish the job if he gets hooked up like in Tampa Bay,” said Nafzger, referring to Street Sense’s nose victory over Any Given Saturday in the track record running of the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs earlier this year. “When he’s hooked up eyeball-to-eyeball, he goes on. Last month in the Jim Dandy, when he was head-to-head with C P West, he went on and finished his race off until he got to the lead. Once he gets a length on the lead, that’s when he pricks his ears forward. Grasshopper just said, ‘I ain’t going to give you any time to prick your ears forward.’ Grasshopper ran a great race.”

Borel had actually ridden Grasshopper in the Dixie Union colt’s two previous starts and told Albarado to “give the colt a shot, he’s an improving horse.”

After the wire, Albarado congratulated Borel, his childhood friend from Louisiana.

“When you get hooked up with somebody, it can be déjà vu,” Nafzger said. “I was just worried about what’s going on between Robby (Albarado) and him (Borel). They’re always hooked up. They’re really good friends and (Grasshopper’s trainer) Neil Howard and I are really good friends.”

They also respect one another’s abilities and recognize greatness in their horses.

“Street Sense is unbelievable,” Howard said. “We were thrilled. It was a great effort. We got beat by an unbelievable horse.”

Said Albarado: “At every point, I thought I could beat him. I’m not taking anything away from Street Sense. He’s a champion. He proved it right here.”

And he proved to his many fans that he loves the spotlight.

They applauded him in the paddock, and they cheered his return to the winners’ circle, as Borel whooped it up for the world to hear.

“I love the way the fans loved Street Sense here,” Nafzger said. “Thank you, New York. I was a lot more nervous today because you really don’t want to let people down. This is a great horse. He’s proved that. If you stop to think, from Breeders’ Cup on, we’re a nose and a head from being perfect.

“I feel good. I’ve always been the kind of person who appreciates where we are in life. We’ll put the plan together. Street Sense was getting a little racy after the Preakness. We backed off and set our goals up here. Right now, there’s not any wear and tear on him. He’s as good as he can be. The trainer? He may have a little wear and tear on him.

“He’ll go back to Kentucky and get freshened up and ready for his next out. If he doesn’t come out of this right, he could go straight to the Breeders’ Cup, like we did with Unbridled. This horse can do anything. Heck, he’s been in my barn 16 months and he’s still running.”

Helsinki, 10 ¼ lengths behind Grasshopper, necked Sightseeing for the show. C P West, Loose Leaf and For You Reppo trailed.