Saturday, Aug. 29 – It’s about 60 minutes to post time for today’s Travers Stakes (Grade 1) at Saratoga and time to pick a winner.
Or, you might say time to pinpoint a horse that could be the best prospect if American Pharoah (shown above winning Preakness) is not at his peak.
Before that it is worthy to note that five of the nine horses that will challenge Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in the 1 1/4 mile Travers raced at Gulfstream Park this past winter.
The top contenders among that quintet appear to be Frosted and Keen Ice.
Frosted finished second to American Pharoah in the Belmont on June 6. Keen Ice finished second to American Pharoah in the Haskell at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2. Both were soundly beaten. But the only other horse that seems to fit is Texas Red the second place finisher to American Pharoah in the Frontrunner Stakes last September at Santa Anita.
Texas Red later won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, a race American Pharoah missed due to a minor injury. Texas Red missed all of this year’s Triple Crown races due to an injury.
The other three Gulfstream alums are Upstart, Frammento and Mid Ocean.
Among the horses that did not race at Gulfstream, Tale of Verve finished second to American Pharoah in the mud in the Preakness. But Frosted, Keen Ice and Texas Red were not in that race.
Predicted finish ML Odds
1 American Pharoah 15:1
2 Keen Ice 12:1
3 Frosted 6:1
4 Texas Red 8:1
PP 1 Upstart 15:1
PP 3 Mid Ocean 50:1
PP 5 Framento 30:1
PP 8 Tale of Verve 30:1
PP 9 King of New York 50:1
PP 10 Smart Transition 20:1
