SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Travers, or midsummer derby, traditionally is the last pit-stop on the grinding, yearlong trail for 3-year-old colts.
But today’s 140th running of the ancient classic could be the exact opposite — a showcase that crowns nobody but catapults an exciting, late-blooming new star into the spotlight.
His name: Quality Road. This is the horse the racing fraternity has been waiting to see. And this is the race, a $1 million Grade 1 test at a mile and a quarter, they have been waiting to see him strut his stuff.
In the absence of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, this is the horse that puts the buzz in the Travers.
Quality Road might not be a household name from sea to shining sea, but along the backstretches, he has been a name to fear since he set a track record to win the Florida Derby in March and vault to the top of the charts as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby.
In the run-up to the Derby, he was hailed as the new Barbaro, Street Sense and Big Brown, seemingly a colt of destiny. But six days before the big race, he was yanked from the Triple Crown lineup with two quarter-cracks. He disappeared from public view for four months.
Three weeks ago, he surfaced at Saratoga in the Amsterdam Stakes, a 61/2-furlong Grade 2 blowtorch sprint. He promptly blew the hinges off the old track, blazing his way to a new track record. Fancy, two races four months apart and two track records. This babe can run.
Today, we should find out how good he really is. He must stretch from 6½ furlongs to a mile and a quarter, bump heads with a Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, and potential rising threat in Kensei.
Quality Road is a home-bred owned by Edward (Ned) Evans, a major player in the game. Jimmy Jerkens trained him through his early races, winning the Fountain of Youth and the Florida Derby, but soon after he was transferred to Todd Pletcher, who revved him up for the Amsterdam.
Quality Road is the Travers 8-5 morning-line favorite, and it’s well deserved. But we have been down this quarter-crack road before, with Big Brown, and we all know what happened to him at odds-on.
Summer Bird will test him. Nine of the last 10 Travers have been won by a Kentucky Derby starter. Today, there are just two Derby runners in the field — Summer Bird and Hold Me Back.
Summer Bird ran a fair sixth in the Derby, then won the Belmont at 11-1 with a late rush. Any notion his Belmont was a fluke was dispelled when he ran against the grain, pushing scorching fractions up front, to get second behind the best horse in America, Rachel Alexandra, in the Haskell.
At the barn, his trainer Tim Ice this week was bursting with confidence.
“The horse is in as good a shape a he could ever be,” Ice said. “I think we’ll get a good pace up front so hopefully we can go back to the way we’ve been accustomed to running, from the rear.
“The extra eighth of a mile here is perfect. We have a great shot to win, no matter what other people think. He ran a winning race in the Haskell, and he was beaten.”
Kent Desormeaux will be back to ride. An aggressive but unpredictable jockey, Desormeaux can give you the ride of the week or the howler of the week, depending on his karma. It doesn’t worry Ice.
“Kent’s smart,” Ice said. “He’ll know where he needs to be to give Summer Bird his best chance. He’ll give us his best shot.”
The only apparent threat to
Quality Road and Summer Bird is Kensei, from the Stonestreet Stable-Steve Asmussen emporium, which houses Rachel Alexandra.
Kensei suffered a hairline fracture as a 2-year-old, stripping him of any chance of going to the Triple Crown. But his last two races have been close to sensational, with runaway victories in the Dwyer at Belmont and the Jim Dandy at the Spa.
It’s hard to see any other horse winning the Travers. Charitable Man won the Peter Pan but flopped against Kensei as the 6-5 favorite in the Jim Dandy. Hold Me Back is terrific on synthetics (3-for-4) but a dud on dirt. Nick Zito’s Our Edge is a speedy colt with three straight wins, but appears over his head here. Warrior’s Reward has won a
maiden and an allowance but flunked all four tries in graded races.