Travers Stakes

by Tim Wilkin, courtesy Wednesday's Pennsylvania Derby & Cotillion News The echoes that bounced off the rafters at Saratoga Race Course last month are still fresh in the mind of Brian Hernandez, Jr. The 38-year-old jockey can still hear the noise as he rode Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) to a heart-pounding second--beaten by a head--behind Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes. Thorpedo Anna's bid to become the first filly to win the Travers in 109 years came up just short. Now, the page has turned to Parx...

It's about to be uber-busy season at Keeneland. The fall meet begins Oct. 4. But first there is the annual extravaganza that is the Keeneland September sale. That begins Sept. 9 and more than 4,000 horses are in the catalogue. The sale and the upcoming racing meet were among the topics of discussion when Keeneland CEO and President Shannon Arvin joined the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Arvin is expecting that this will be a strong sale. "The economic indicators so far are really good," she said. "We,...

The public may have given up on Fierceness (City of Light) before the GI DraftKings Travers S., sending last year's 2-year-old champion off at 7-2. It was all about his inability to string together two good races. But owner Mike Repole remained confident and that confidence was rewarded in the Travers in a victory that put his homebred squarely in the mix for Horse of the Year. To talk about Fierceness, and also his desire to make changes in the sport through his National Thoroughbred Alliance, Repole joined this week's...

The King's Plate race card, rescheduled to Friday following torrential rains on its originally scheduled date last Saturday, produced total wagering handle of $11.6 million. The three-day weekend total handle was $24.5 million. "After Mother Nature had other plans for us last weekend, Friday was picture perfect for the King's Plate and the racing was outstanding," said Michael Copeland, CEO of Woodbine. "We couldn't have pulled off such a memorable day without the tremendous support of our racing fans, racing participants and entire Woodbine team." With the original King's Plate...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-When it became perfectly clear that the finish of Saturday's $1.25-million, GI DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was going to be desperately close, trainer Todd Pletcher went to work. Sitting up in his clubhouse box, the normally composed Pletcher rose to his feet and screamed and yelled for his 3-year-old colt Fierceness (City of Light) to get the job done in the Midsummer Derby. "I knew it was getting close," the Hall of Fame trainer said outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training...

Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) deserves all the credit in world for her game performance in the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes. Facing off against one of the toughest Travers fields in memory, she beat everyone but Eclipse Award winner Fierceness (City of Light), losing by a diminishing head. She finished ahead of the GI Toyota Blue Grass winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and GI Belmont S. and GI Haskell S. winner Dornoch (Good Magic) and four other males. It was a special effort by a special...

If there was a knock on last year's champion 2-year-old and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) heading into Saturday's GI Travers S., it was that he couldn't fire his best shot in back-to-back races. Seems awfully silly now, doesn't it? Off as the 7-2 third choice and just a dime shy of 4-1 in the highlight of the summer meeting at Saratoga, the Repole Stable homebred backed up his exceptional win in the local prep GII Jim Dandy Stakes July 27 with a dramatic head victory over the...

When 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) enters the gate for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it'll be more than a sporting gesture on the part of the ownership group and trainer Ken McPeek. The conditioner is rolling the dice against a field that includes three other Grade I winners--an oft-brilliant, but sometimes unpredictable reigning Eclipse Award champion, a Classic winner over the course and distance and a seven-figure yearling whose full potential has yet to be realized. Sure, Thorpedo Anna could have faced her peers in...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Brad Cox said he was listening to a radio show a few days ago and his ears perked up when the chat got to the upcoming GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar in November. "They were talking about Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) being a good matchup, and I was like, 'wow, she is completely forgotten," trainer Brad Cox said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. 'She' is Idiomatic (Curlin), and if anyone has put her...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - When one of Bob Baffert's horses is doing well, the Hall of Fame trainer expects a big effort. That's why 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has made his second cross-country trip in the last two months. That's why he is right here, in Saratoga, getting ready to run in the $500,000 GI Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday. "It's a tough race, there are no easy spots," Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar in California. "Anytime you have a Grade I,...

Kentucky Downs Vice President of Racing Ted Nicholson may have the easiest job in racing, which he'll readily admit. Thanks to the popularity of the Historical Horse Racing Machines, he's got a boatload of money to spend. Every year, it's the same thing...he has to decide where and how to spend millions of dollars. How do you divide up the money and which races deserve a purse increase? "Business has been very strong on the gaming side," said Nicholson, this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN...

Although she made history last year with a horse named Arcangelo (Arrogate), trainer Jena Antonucci hardly ever watches replays of the 2023 GI Belmont Stakes or GI Travers Stakes. She'll tell you why. She has a love for the horses, a love for competition, and, oh, she was good enough to seriously consider a career as a professional golfer. Here it is, the TDN's Saratoga Conversation. TDN: You were the master of ceremonies at the annual trivia contest at the Racing Museum last month. Asked all the questions. One of...