The winners of this year’s three Triple Crown races, plus last year’s top two-year-old, will all face off on Saturday in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
The favourite for the 1 mile 2 furlong Grade 1 for three-year-olds on the dirt is Forte, a 2.50 shot with William Hill to take the first prize of nearly three quarters of a million dollars.
The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile has three wins and a second to his name in 2023, including the defeat of Mage in April’s Florida Derby and a Grade 2 win at this track last month.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 24th, 5:00 P.M. (BST)
Todd Pletcher’s colt was beaten in the Belmont Stakes in June, and the horse to get the better of him was Arcangelo (3.50) trained by Jena Antonucci.
The Belmont triumph under Saturday’s jockey Javier Castellano was Arcangelo’s first run at Grade 1 level in just his fourth career run. After a fourth and a win at Gulfstream Park, he won the Grade 3 Peter Pan, also at Belmont.
Mage (5.00) will be looking to add to his impressive record of one win and three places at this level. Having come up short in the Florida Derby, he landed the Kentucky Derby, also under Castellano. Mage was third in the Preakness Stakes and last time out was second at Monmouth Park in July’s Haskell Stakes.
With Castellano otherwise engaged, Luis Saez will take the ride for the first time since Florida.
John Velazquez rides the other of the Triple Crown trio, National Treasure (13.00), who won the Preakness Stakes in May. Still a new member of Bob Baffert’s yard, he went to the Belmont Stakes but could only manage to finish sixth.
Disarm is also at 13.00 for last year’s winning trainer and jockey, Steven Asmussen and Joel Rosario. He was an impressive fourth of 18 in the Kentucky Derby when going off at 28.00 in his only Grade 1 to date but was just fourth of five at Saratoga behind Forte in July.
Completing the 13.00 group is Scotland for trainer William Mott. This colt has two wins from two career runs but has never entered a graded race and is yet to travel over a mile. Junior Alvarado partners him again.
The outsider is Pletcher’s other runner, Tapit Trice, a 17.00 chance. A winner of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April, hopes were high ahead of the Kentucky Derby but he could only manage seventh. Third at Belmont and fifth in the Haskell have since followed.
