Sovereignty the centerpiece of the G1 DraftKings Travers

Godolphin's dual Classic-winner Sovereignty looks to provide Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott with his first victory in Saturday’s 156th running of the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers, a 1 1/4-mile test for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course. 

The Travers [Race 13, approx. 6:14 p.m. Eastern] is one of five Grade 1s scheduled for Saturday’s lucrative 14-race program, including the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in Race 10 and three top-level Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifiers with the Forego [Dirt Mile] in Race 12, Resorts World Casino Ballerina [Filly and Mare Sprint] in Race 11 and the Personal Ensign [Distaff] in Race 9. The card is supported by the Grade 2, $400,000 Lake Placid in Race 7.

First post on Saturday’s card is 11:10 a.m. Eastern with gates opening to the public at 9:00 a.m. A special DraftKings Travers Day edition of Saratoga Live will air on FS2 beginning at noon. FOX Saratoga Saturday will present live coverage and analysis of the DraftKings Travers Day stakes action beginning at 3 p.m. 

Sovereignty enters from three consecutive victories, taking the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs ahead of the local Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets in June and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun last out on July 26 here. 

“His record, people have watched him, it’s in black and white what he’s done,” Mott said. “Probably a well-known fact is that he is the horse to beat, but by the same token, they’ve got to go around there. They need to do it in the afternoon. It is not a done deal, that is why they are going to run the race.”  

In the Jim Dandy, the Into Mischief bay traveled one length off the pace in third position through the half-mile in 48.49 seconds on the fast dirt, briefly dropping to the tail of the field entering the second turn, but responding when asked with a seven-wide bid to edge Baeza by one length in a final time of 1:49.52 for the nine furlongs. 

Sovereignty’s recent margin of victory was closer than in the Kentucky Derby or Belmont, both 10-furlong tests, where he defeated Journalism by 1 1/2 lengths and three lengths, respectively, with Baeza landing third. Sovereignty traveled closer to the pace in his local efforts compared to the Kentucky Derby where he successfully closed from 16th-of-19 over sloppy and sealed footing.

Mott will let regular rider Junior Alvarado work out a trip, in a field that includes potential pacesetters in the Steve Asmussen-trained Magnitude and the Victoria Oliver-conditioned Bracket Buster, as he also pursues his first Travers victory. 

“I guess he’s got confidence that when he turns for home, he usually has a nice closing kick,” Mott said. “He knows him and I guess we’ll just leave it up to him.” 

“Particularly in a short field, you don’t know much speed is going to show up,” Mott continued. “I looked at the past performances for a couple of the horses that are going to run and there’s a couple in there that look like they have good, reasonable, honest type speed if they want to use it - Vicki Oliver and Steve’s horse - they look like they have the ability to lay up there, and I think they probably will.” 

Sovereignty [post 4, Junior Alvarado, 2-5 ML], out of the unraced Bernardini mare Crowned, is a Kentucky homebred for Godolphin, who has won this event with Alpha [2012, dead-heat with Golden Ticket] and Essential Quality [2021]. He boasts an 8-5-2-0 record with over $5.1 million in earnings, additionally capturing the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 3 Street Sense as a third-out juvenile maiden at Churchill. 

“I think he looks very much like he did going into the Belmont,” said Mott in reference to the performance that earned a career and field-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure. “I’m sure people figure there are probably easier places to run. Not everybody is fleeing. There’s always somebody in there that can run... It is not a done deal.” 

Mott has had 13 starters in 12 Travers dating to 1995, finishing second with Vision and Verse [1999], Hold Me Back [2009] and Tacitus [2019].

Previous Kentucky Derby-Belmont-Travers winners include Twenty Grand [1931], Shut Out [1942] and Thunder Gulch [1995]. Whirlaway added the Preakness to that mix in 1941 to complete a Triple Crown-Travers sweep and remains the only horse to do so. 

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen provides strong opposition with Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Magnitude [post 1, Ben Curtis, 2-1 ML], a gate-to-wire winner in his past two starts by open lengths under returning rider Ben Curtis. Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds captured the 2022 Travers with Epicenter - like Magnitude, a son of Not This Time. 

Magnitude finished sixth over sloppy and sealed footing in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds Race Course in his January seasonal debut, but stepped up when stretched out to nine furlongs at the Louisiana oval for a frontrunning 9 3/4-length romp in the Grade 2 Risen Star in February. That victory earned a career-best 108 Beyer.

Magnitude missed the Triple Crown series with an ankle chip, but the bay returned victoriously last out on July 5 with a 9 1/4-length frontrunning score in the Listed Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows over good dirt.

“We thought that was the perfect race back,” said Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Asmussen. “He ran good figures once again. We wanted to give him plenty of time between that race and the Travers, which we’ve pointed to. We have to run against a [potential] Champion, and that is never an easy task, but hopefully we are doing as good as we can, physically, and get the job done.” 

The $450,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase won 2-of-5 starts as a juvenile, taking an optional-claimer in November at Churchill ahead of a 6 3/4-length second in the Listed Gun Runner in December at Fair Grounds. He is out of the Bernardini mare Rockadelic and his second dam is dual Grade 1 winner Octave. 

Klaravich Stables’ Strategic Focus [post 3, Flavien Prat, blinkers ON, 6-1 ML] is lightly-raced and has potential upside off a half-length third in the restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos on July 24 here. Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown seeks his first Travers victory during a meet in which he won his first Grade 1 Whitney with Sierra Leone, who was third in last year’s Travers won by Fierceness. 

Strategic Focus adds blinkers after his Curlin third to stablemate Chancer McPatrick, who is a contender in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial. There, Strategic Focus hit the gate, stalked the pace before making a bold outside bid to the front in the second turn, and flattened out within the final sixteenth to lose narrowly. 

“He looks good and it's obviously a tall order here. We're going to try,” said Brown. “He looked to be winning the Curlin on the turn easy, and then he just packed it in when he made the lead. He scoped good. I'll have to think it's mental because the horse can definitely get the distance.”

The Gun Runner chestnut previously crossed the wire three-quarter-lengths in front of 4-year-old stablemate Malarchuk in a nine-furlong optional claimer in June here, but was disqualified to second after he shied in during the stretch drive under Dylan Davis, still earning a career-best 102 Beyer.

Brown said Strategic Focus will run with blinkers in hopes of preventing idling late. Reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey Flavien Prat has the call in pursuit of his first Travers glory. 

“I've heard this complaint about him when he makes the lead from two different jockeys, so we'll try a little blinker on him,” Brown said. “He should have a good target to run at in Asmussen's horse - one he very well might not even get by. It's not like he's going to make the lead early on that horse - that's a good horse.”

Strategic Focus, who won his one-turn mile debut in April at Aqueduct Racetrack versus elders, was a $500,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is a full-brother to the Brown-trained stakes-winner Headline Numbers out of the Curlin mare Curlin’s Mistress, a full-sister to multiple graded stakes-winner Curlin’s Approval.

“If Sovereignty runs his race, everyone is going to be running for second, but I’m OK with that,” Brown reasoned. “I’d be happy with that, but it’s Saratoga and anything can happen. I have a horse that’s sound, healthy, fresh and lightly raced, and it’s a race I’ve always wanted to have success in, so I want to take a shot.” 

Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, breeder Judy Hicks, and Scott Rice’s McAfee [post 5, John Velazquez, 20-1 ML] has hit the board in three consecutive nine-furlong Grade 3s following the addition of blinkers and will look to break through versus the topflight. Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., the Cloud Computing dark bay was a last-out 4 1/4-length second to Chunk of Gold in the West Virginia Derby on August 3 at Mountaineer. 

Previously, McAfee was a three-quarter-length second to Hill Road in the Peter Pan at Belmont at the Big A and a four-length third to Mo Plex in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown. 

“I don't really know what his best game is, but he is showing up in these longer races. He's an underachiever,” said Dutrow, Jr. “I'm hoping we'll see his best this Saturday, just to see him grab a hold of the bit turning for home, I'd love to see that. We see the horses going in there, we're hoping we can beat one or two of them and be happy with a third-place. Anything can happen up there. Our horse might love the track and maybe somebody might not like it that day."

Out of the Uncle Mo mare Sataves, McAfee is a half-brother to 2024 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Thorpedo Anna, who was defeated a head in this event last year and headlines the Personal Ensign. Dutrow, Jr. seeks his first Travers victory and calls upon reigning and multiple Travers-winning Hall of Famer John Velazquez to ride.

BBN Racing’s Bracket Buster [post 2, Luis Saez, 20-1 ML] looks to channel a March Madness-esque upset as he makes his second Grade 1 attempt. Trained by Victoria Oliver, the Vekoma bay set a pressured pace and won the 1 1/16-mile Listed NYRA Bets Pegasus by seven lengths in June at Monmouth Park ahead of an eight-length fourth to Journalism in the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell last out on July 19 there. 

In the Haskell, Bracket Buster broke sharply from the inside post, set an opening quarter-mile in 23.33 seconds on the fast dirt, some other rivals caught up shortly thereafter and he hung on for fourth on the inside. He most recently breezed a half-mile in 47.80 seconds on August 15 at Keeneland. 

“I think he would’ve been a lot closer fourth if he didn’t have a horse run with him early,” Oliver said. “I don’t know if he’ll get the mile and a quarter distance, but we are going to find out on Saturday. He’s coming into the race very good, worked well and came out of his work well.”

Among Bracket Buster’s 8-2-1-1 record is a pacesetting second to Grade 1 Preakness and Haskell runner-up Gosger in the Grade 3 Lexington in April at Keeneland. He has kept strong company, including a fifth to Sovereignty in last year’s Street Sense. Oliver seeks her first Travers victory while jockey Luis Saez has lifted the Man o’ War Cup - the winner’s trophy - with Will Take Charge [2013] and Essential Quality [2021]. 

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.