SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the 2024 Travers Day card, trainer Bill Mott debuted a 2-year-old colt by Into Mischief and owned by Godolphin who came with a late run to finish fourth at odds of 11-1. The chart read, “Angled out six to seven wide into upper stretch, closed well to the finish to secure the last major share.”
Since then, that colt, Sovereignty, has won 5 of 7 starts, including the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and become the top 3-year-old in training. On Saturday at Saratoga, Sovereignty will be heavily favored to secure the major share of the $1.25 million purse in the Grade 1 Travers, the marquee event of this historic venue’s summer meet.
“I guess the way he ran the first time, we were pretty pleased,” said Mott, reflecting on last year. “No surprise that he turned into a good 3-year-old. You never know that they’re going to reach this level.”
That Sovereignty has reached the upper level of the 3-year-old division is evident by his record. This year, he won the Fountain of Youth and was second in the Florida Derby before reeling off convincing victories in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. He kicked off the second half of the season with a one-length victory in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, the top local prep for the Travers.
Sovereignty’s stature in the division also is evident by the fact he will face only four other horses, making this the smallest Travers field since Holy Bull beat four opponents in 1994. The Southern California-based duo of Journalism and Baeza, second and third in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont, have opted not to head east to take on Sovereignty on his home court.
“I would have always expected seven, eight, nine horses,” Mott said. “Anyway, the fact that it’s five, I guess that’s what it is and you just have to deal with it.”
Sovereignty dealt with only four rivals in the Jim Dandy just fine. As he did in the Belmont Stakes, Sovereignty put himself and jockey Junior Alvarado in the race early, was never more than 1 1/2 lengths off the leaders, came five wide in the stretch, and won by a length. The Jim Dandy was at 1 1/8 miles. The Derby and Belmont were at 1 1/4 miles, the same distance as the Travers.
“It’s hard to dispute the fact that he’s pretty good at a mile and a quarter,” Mott said. “He’s 2 for 2 and that’s what we’re running at on Saturday, so at least we have the confidence that he’s done it before. We know he has the ability to do it. We’re not guessing.”
Over the last 50 years, there have been 13 odds-on favorites in the Travers, and 10 of them have won. Affirmed (disqualified from first in 1978), Conquistador Cielo (third in 1982), and American Pharoah (second in 2015) did not.
Sovereignty was pegged as the 2-5 morning-line favorite, and the New York Racing Association will not allow show wagering on the Travers.
“I’m glad we’ve got the favorite and a horse we’re very optimistic about, and a horse that we think has a good chance to win,” Mott said. “There is a little pressure that goes along with it because everybody’s expectations are extremely high and you don’t want to disappoint anyone, including myself. But as far as the horse goes, he’s doing fine. He’s come into the race good. He’s trained well.”
The Travers is one of the few Grade 1 stakes that has eluded Mott, 72, in his Hall of Fame career. Starting in 1995, Mott has started 13 horses in 12 runnings of the Travers. He has finished second three times, including with Tacitus in 2019.
“I’d love to win the Travers,” Mott said. “This is probably one of the best race meets in the country. For us, we call it our home base at the moment. It’s important. The people here love racing. If we’ve got a good horse we can showcase, no better place to do it than right here.”
The most intriguing rival Sovereignty faces on Saturday is Magnitude. A son of Not This Time trained by Steve Asmussen, Magnitude was a front-running, blowout winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds, but he required surgery to remove an ankle chip and missed the Triple Crown season.
Magnitude returned in the Iowa Derby on July 5 at Prairie Meadows and recorded another front-running victory, this time by 9 1/4 lengths. The Beyer Speed Figures he’s earned in those two races, 108 and 105, put him on the same level as Sovereignty. On other speed figures, Magnitude also matches up.
Noting how well Magnitude ran off the layoff, Asmussen decided not to squeeze another race in before the Travers. He’s had five workouts in Saratoga, with three coming over the main track.
“The main thing is he’ll run well fresh,” said Asmussen, who added that after the Iowa Derby, the plan was “get him to Saratoga, let him settle in. We’ve given him multiple moves over the main track, like how he’s done it. I think his works have gotten progressively better and love how he’s doing this week, as we know he has got a tall order ahead of him.”
Magnitude will be expected to set the pace breaking from the rail under Ben Curtis.
Chad Brown, who is winless with 17 horses in 10 runnings of the Travers, sends out the lightly raced Strategic Focus. The son of Gun Runner officially is 1 for 3, having won a maiden race and been disqualified from an allowance win. Most recently, he finished third, beaten a half-length, in the Curlin Stakes.
Brown is adding blinkers to Strategic Focus in hopes of having him concentrate throughout the race, something he has not yet done.
“There’s room for improvement here, which gives me hope he can get there and be competitive,” Brown said. “He’s certainly inexperienced still and he showed that in his last two starts. I’m hoping the blinkers solve most or all of that. I’ve been really impressed with his works in them.”
Brown has been impressed with Sovereignty, having watched him train all winter and early spring at Payson Park in Florida. Brown said had the Travers drawn a bigger field, he may not have been as inclined to run.
Bracket Buster and McAfee complete the Travers field. Bracket Buster won the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth but then finished fourth, eight lengths behind Journalism, in the Haskell. Trainer Vicki Oliver said Bracket Buster could have finished a little closer to the top three had a horse not cut in front of him on the far turn.
“None of us are as good as Sovereignty and what’s he’s accomplished,” Oliver said. “I think he’s got as good a shot as anyone to be second or third.”
Luis Saez rides Bracket Buster from post 2.
McAfee, a half-brother to 2024 Horse of the Year and Travers runner-up Thorpedo Anna, comes out of a second-place finish to Chunk of Gold in the West Virginia Derby. McAfee has not won since taking his debut in a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs last November. John Velazquez will ride him from post 5.
The Travers goes as race 13 on a 14-race card that begins at 11:10 a.m. and includes six graded stakes, including five Grade 1 events. After a rainy Wednesday, the weather looked dry and clear heading into the weekend, with Saturday’s forecast calling for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s.
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