Sovereignty, the 2025 three-year-old male division leader, drew post position four and was listed as the heavy 2/5 favorite in the 156th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY.
His presence in the 10-furlong race, nicknamed “The Mid-Summer Kentucky Derby,” seems to have scared off the competition as the heavily muscled, dark bay colt will take on just four others in the smallest Travers field assembled in 31 years. (Only four others showed up to take on the speedy Holy Bull, who won by a diminishing neck in 1994.)
The son of super-sire Into Mischief has won five of his last six starts, including the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and the Grade 2 Jim Stakes, the perennial prep race for the Travers.
The horse that poses the biggest threat to Sovereignty might be the speedy Magnitude, a $450,000 son of Not This Time.
After his visually impressive 9 3/4-length win in the Feb 15th Risen Star Stakes, Magnitude was immediately put on a path toward the May 3rd Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, he chipped a bone in his left front ankle in the Risen Star that required surgery and put the Steve Asmussen trainee on the shelf until July 5th.
His comeback race was nothing short of sensational as he was much the best, in leading all the way with a final winning margin of 9 1/2 lengths.
“We thought that was the perfect race back,” said Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Steve 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 (possible) champion, and that is never an easy task, but hopefully we are doing as good as we can, physically, and get the job done.”
By winning his last two races by a combined 19 lengths, being the dominant early speed and drawing a dream post position for his running style, the 2-1 second choice odds are extremely logical.
Another who poses a threat is Klaravich Stables’ Strategic Focus, who is light on experience yet heavy on talent. With just three starts under his belt, this $500,000 son of record-breaking sire Gun Runner won his first two starts impressively before finishing a somewhat disappointing third in the Curlin Stakes here on July 24th.
This big colt took the lead on the turn for home yet inexplicably slowed down late and was passed by two horses, one being stable-mate and Saratoga surface lover Chancer McPatrick.
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, who grew up a few furlongs from Saratoga and seeks his first Travers victory, will ironically add blinkers to Strategic Focus in hopes of keeping him more focused.
“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. If Sovereignty runs his race, everyone is going to be running for second, but I’m OK with that,” Brown added. “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.”
The other two horses in the field, on paper, pose little threats.
McAfee’s claim to fame is being the younger, half-brother to fan favorite and 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. Past that, he has hit the board in three consecutive nine-furlong Grade 3s in his last three starts while running against far inferior horses than what he will see on Saturday afternoon. Trained by Rick Dutrow, 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 Park.
Lastly is Bracket Buster, who will be looking to run to his name in a March Madness-type upset. Trained by Victoria Oliver, the Vekoma bay set a pressured pace and won the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus Stakes by seven lengths in June at Monmouth Park .
Before that, he was behind the mega-talented Journalism in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park.
In the Haskell, Bracket Buster broke sharply from the inside post, set an opening quarter-mile in 23. 1 seconds, but other rivals caught up shortly thereafter, and he settled for fourth. He most recently breezed a half-mile in 47.4 seconds on August 15 at Keeneland in preparation for this assignment.
“I think he would’ve been a lot closer 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.”
Little Bets N’ Pieces
**** Multiple grade 1 winner Imperial Hint, who set a track record at Saratoga Race Course that still stands today, has been euthanized in Louisiana after a long battle with laminitis.
Clear Creek Stud, which stood Imperial Hint since he went to the breeding shed in 2021, announced his death.
The 12-year-old son of Imperialism won 11 stakes races, including four grade 1 events, in a 25-race career from 2016 to 2020. He set the track record when winning the 2019 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga, where he ran six furlongs in 1:07.4.
Trained by Luis Carvajal Jr., Imperial Hint won 14 of 25 career starts and earned $2,209,055. Mamone died at age 88 in 2021.
Imperial Hint has 49 foals of racing age and his progeny earned $286,633 through August 10.
Imperial Hint stood for a fee of $2,500 during the 2025 breeding season. Nicknamed “Little Rocket,” he was bred to both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse mares.
**** After her win in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, dual-surface graded stakes winner Nitrogen will remain on the dirt for at least the remainder of this year with the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 1 at Del Mar as the year-end goal.
Trainer Mark Casse said he plans to run Nitrogen once before the Distaff, but has yet to figured out where that race would be.
“We know what our final target is, we just don’t know how we’re going to get there,” Casse said.
Casse said he probably wouldn’t run Nitrogen in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing on Sept. 20. His other options include the $175,000 Seneca Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race at Churchill Downs on Sept. 20, or the Grade 1, $650,000 Spinster Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race at Keeneland on Oct. 5.
Nitrogen won last Saturday despite drifting out in and out down the lane, something Casse believes she did because she was by herself in the stretch.
“She likes a target (to run at late), I think the slower pace hurt her a little bit,” Casse said.
Nitrogen earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for the Alabama win.
* Casse said La Cara, already a two-time Grade 1 winner this year, could be considered for the Cotillion.
* While on the subject of the Alabama Stakes, trainer Brad Cox reported that both Good Cheer and Margie’s Intention, the second- and third-place finishers, came out in good order. He has no set plan for either filly.
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