The Travers and the Triple Crown
Joseph Di Rienzi
August 14, 2017
August 14, 2017
The Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, renewed for the
148th time on August 26, 2017, has been called “The Mid-Summer
Derby” in that it is the most significant prize for classic aged horses (three
years-old) after the spring Triple Crown series of races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness
and Belmont Stakes). Over the years, horses that have triumphed in one or more
of the classics have confirmed their top form in the Travers. Racing exemplars
such as Man O’War, Whirlaway, Native Dancer, Damascus, Arts and Letters and
Easy Goer have all won the Travers after capturing one of more of the Triple
Crown races. However, in the last 70 years, there has been a curious oddity
that when the Travers field includes winners of all three classics (note, this
can be one, two or three horses), none of them are able to win the Travers
Stakes.
Starting from 1957, the first opportunity to see this
apparent anomaly was in 1963 when Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, Darby
Dan Farm’s Chateaugay faced Preakness Stakes victor Candy Spots owned by Rex C.
Ellsworth in the Travers. Both classic winners came into the Travers off
defeats after their Triple Crown races. Candy Spots had won the Arlington Classic and American
Derby but then finished second in the Chicagoan at Arlington Park while Chateaugay finished third in the Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct
Racetrack. Also, in the Travers field was the previous year’s two year-old
champion, Never Bend, who had finished second in the Derby and third
in the Preakness. The three had their reunion in the Midsummer Derby, and it
was anticipated that the Travers would settle the three-year old championship.
However, the result was anything but conclusive. At 20-1 odds, George D.
Widener’s Crewman found the top level form that had produced a
victory in the previous year’s Garden State Stakes. He defeated similar
longshot Hot Dust by 1½ lengths with Chateaugay another length back in third,
Candy Spots finished fourth and Never Bend was sixth and last.
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| 1963 Travers Stakes (Associated Press photo) |
It was not until 1978 that the next opportunity for winners
of all three classic races to run in the Travers, and this was the year of
Triple Crown winner, Harbor View Farm’s Affirmed. This was the 10th
and what would be the final meeting of Affirmed and Calumet Farm’s Alydar, his
vaunted rival in all three classics. Despite Affirmed’s decided win margin (7
to 2) over his rival, Alydar’s connections were optimistic since the latter seemed
to be coming into the race sharper than the former. In addition, Affirmed’s
rider, Steve Cauthen, was injured and was replaced by Laffit Pincay. There were
only two other horses entered, major stakes winner Nasty and Bold and Shake
Shake Shake, a rank outsider, who nonetheless played a role in the Travers’
controversial result. Under Angel Cordero, Shake Shake Shake took the early
lead with Affirmed directly to his outside. Alydar settled initially in fourth,
just to the flank of Nasty and Bold. Down the backstretch, jockey Jorge
Velasquez seized the initiative by moving Alydar abruptly to the rail, coming
up the inside of Shake Shake Shake. As the pace setter faltered, Pincay on
Affirmed angled his mount toward the rail, squeezing the oncoming Alydar and
forcing him to lose his action and drop back suddenly. For a moment, it
appeared, Alydar had broken down, but showing extraordinary courage he came
back and made a valiant effort to catch Affirmed who had vaulted to a clear
lead. At the finish, Affirmed was 1¾ lengths ahead of Alydar with Nasty and
Bold some 3¾ lengths further back in third. The blinking lights on the tote
board started flashing “Inquiry”, and after some deliberation, the stewards
rightly disqualified Affirmed for interference and made Alydar the official Travers winner.
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| 1978 Travers Stakes (CBS-TV photo) |
The 1980’s had three Travers renewals where all the year’s
classic winners were entered. In 1981, Derby-Preakness winner Pleasant Colony
was the favorite over his Belmont Stakes conqueror, Charles T. Wilson, Jr.’s
Summing. A very sloppy oval on Travers Day may have played a significant part
in the outcome as Mrs. Marcia W. Schott’s Willow Hour, by mud loving sire Bold
Hour, raced just off the pace and took command as they approached the far turn.
Pleasant Colony, in fifth place in the early running made a concerted run
around the far turn to challenge Willow Hour at the top of the stretch. The
Buckland Farm runner appeared able to go right by the Schott horse, but either
Willow Hour found more, or Pleasant Colony was not quite fit enough having not
run since the Belmont Stakes. Willow Hour maintained a narrow margin throughout
the stretch, though at the finish it was a desperate head as Pleasant Colony
lunged forward. The 1980 Two Year-old Champion Lord Avie, closed resolutely to
finish third, 1¾ lengths back of Pleasant Colony with Summing finishing ninth.
At 24-1, Willow Hour joined the long list of upset winners of major races at
Saratoga.
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| 1981 Travers Stakes (Associated Press photo) |
Race strategy may have played a significant part in the
result. Angel Cordero on Aloma’s Ruler was not about to let Conquistador Cielo
have the race his own way on the front end so he spurred his mount to contest
the lead, and the two classic winners dueled head and head. Gato Del Sol,
racing in third place, was closer than usual, but Runaway Groom was biding his
time in a distant fifth position. As the two leaders battled back and forth,
exchanging the lead, Jeffery Fell aboard Runaway Groom mounted his rally. Many
race viewers were so intent on the stretch duel between Conquistador Cielo and
Aloma’s Ruler, they did not see the upset coming until just before the finish
when Runaway Groom swept past the embattled leaders to win by a ½ length.
Aloma’s Ruler won the race inside the race by ¾ length over Conquistador Cielo,
who racing on the inside may have been compromised by the track bias. Gato Del
Sol flattened out badly to finish fifth and last. As the longest shot in the
race, Runaway Groom and his connections added their name to the list that give
further substance to the “Graveyard of Favorites” attribution to Saratoga.
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| 1982 Travers Stakes (NYRA photo) |
In 1987, not only were the Derby-Preakness winner Dorothy
and Pamela Scharbauer’s Alysheba and his Triple Crown denier Cisley Stable and
Blanche Levy’s Bet Twice in the Travers field, but it also included major
sophomore stakes winners Java Gold, Gulch, Polish Navy, Temperate Sil and
Cryptoclearance. Bet Twice had just narrowly defeated Alysheba in the Haskell
Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park in their respective first race after the
Belmont Stakes. The question surrounding Alysheba, and it would shadow him for
over a year, was whether he could run his
best without the administration of Lasix which was prohibited at that time in
New York. This talk, as the time for the race drew near, subsided, and the
prevailing discussion centered on the condition of the racetrack which had been
drenched by heavy morning rains. Alysheba and Bet Twice’s respective form on
sloppy tracks was uncertain, but Gulch, Java Gold and Cryptoclearance all had
won stake races on off tracks. The public settled on the Derby winner as the
slight favorite over Java Gold and Bet Twice.
As the race unfolded, Bet Twice was close to the lead while
Alysheba was in mid-pack with Java Gold and Cryptoclearance occupying the two
rear positions. As the field headed for the far turn, the complexion of the
race changed dramatically. Bet Twice briefly seized the lead, but in the
stretch drive, he was quickly passed by Cryptoclearance
who making a bold bid surged into the lead looking like a clear winner.
However, Pat Day aboard Java Gold had been drafting behind “Crypto’s” wake and
in mid-stretch, he asked the Rokeby Stable colt for his run, and the response was immediate. In deep stretch,
Java Gold caught and drew past Cryptoclearance for a 2 length victory. The two
classic winners, Bet Twice and Alysheba, finished back in fifth and sixth place
respectively, and both horses’ connections blamed the track condition for their
defeats.
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| Java Gold,winner of 1987 Travers Stakes (NYRA photo) |
In the next decade, 1991 was the only year that winners of
the three classics met in the Travers. Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold,
owned by the partnership of Brophy, Condren and Cornacchia, was coming off a third place finish in the Jim
Dandy Stakes, his first start after his narrow Belmont Stakes loss to Preakness
winner Lazy Lane Farms’ Hansel. The dual classic winner had also finished third
in his previous race, the Haskell Invitational. The Travers was basically a two
horse contest between Overbrook Farm’s Corporate Report and Hansel who raced
first and second almost the entire 1¼ mile distance. Corporate Report had a
daylight lead until Hansel went up to challenge towards the end of the
backstretch. At the top of the stretch, it looked like Hansel was going the
strongest and seemed ready to pull away from Corporate Report. However, he did
not, and Corporate Report regained the lead and held it to the finish for a
neck victory. Last year’s two year-old champion Fly So Free was 2½ lengths back
in third. He did, however, finish 3 lengths ahead of Strike the Gold whose
brief rally around the far turn failed to be sustained.
The reason for Hansel’s inability to draw away in the
stretch became apparent when jockey Jerry Bailey, sensing distress, jumped off
after pulling up his mount. Examination revealed that Hansel had partially torn
a tendon in his front left ankle in the
stretch. Fortunately, the injury was not life threatening, but it forced the
son of Woodman’s retirement. The Travers victor, Corporate Report, a son of
Private Account, who had placed in several major stakes races this year was
winning his first stakes race, and his first race of any kind beyond 6
furlongs. The Travers would be his one moment of glory for Corporate Report
fractured a coffin bone in his foot training for his next start and also was
forced into retirement.
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| 1991 Travers Stakes (NYRA photo) |
The next and last (to date) occurrence of this relativity
rare circumstance was in 2015. (However, when entries were drawn for the 2003
Travers Stakes, both Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Funny Cide and the Belmont
Stakes victor, Empire Maker, were in the field. Alas, both did not run due to
reported illnesses.) In 2015, American Pharoah owned by Zayat Stable and
trained by Bob Baffert was the singular Travers attraction. He was the first
Triple Crown winner since Affirmed, and his presence in the Travers field drew
almost rock star hysteria. American Pharoah had just won the Haskell
Invitational Stakes by an eased down 2¼ lengths in his first start since his
Belmont Stakes triumph. Despite “Pharoah’s” towering reputation, the Travers
drew a field of ten with Texas Red and Frosted, who had finished first and
second in the Jim Dandy Stakes, the second and third betting choices, respectively.
Overlooked at 16-1 was Donegal Racing’s Keen Ice, although beaten three times
previously by American Pharoah, had shown an improved effort in closing ground
in the 9 furlong Haskell to finish second. The extra furlong of the Travers
Stakes could only benefit this come from behind runner who coming into the Travers
had only a single victory in his resume.
At the start of the Travers, American Pharoah jumped out to
the lead and appeared to be controlling the pace. However, halfway down the
backstretch, Frosted was sent up to confront
American Pharoah, and both colts raced head and head around the far turn and
into the stretch. Once the leaders straightened out, American Pharoah repulsed
Frosted’s sustained run as the Triple Crown hero slowly drew clear. But the
duel with Frosted had taken its toll as Keen Ice, who was rating some distance
behind the embattled leaders, made his charge in the stretch. Closing steadily,
Keen Ice caught American Pharoah about 1/16 of a mile before the finish and
despite the latter’s best efforts, Keen Ice prevailed by ¾ of a length.
Frosted, whose early challenge to American Pharoah was probably the reason for
the latter’s defeat finished third, another 2¼ lengths back.
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| 2015 Travers Stakes (Associated Press photo) |
So the anomaly still holds that when winners of all three classics are entered in the Travers Stakes, none of them are victorious. However, since the opportunity has only presented itself seven times in seventy years, this is not a statistically valid conclusion. As of this writing, there is a possibility that Always Dreaming (Kentucky Derby winner), Cloud Computing (Preakness victor) and Tapwrit (Belmont Stakes hero) will all meet in the 2017 Travers. If they do, this will be a test of this anomaly; if there are not all present, we will have to wait for another year.
