Draftkings Travers Stakes (Grade 1)

SO, how good is Sovereignty?

That was the main discussion after the Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner came home clear by a wide margin in the Travers Stakes on Saturday.

In recent decades, American Pharoah and Justify won the Triple Crown and Arrogate was a late developing three-year-old who won the Breeders’ Cup.

But Sovereignty, the top three-year-old and leader for Horse of the Year honours, asserted his dominance in no uncertain terms by rolling to an easy, eased down, 10-length victory in the ‘Midsummer Derby’.

He did what was expected against a lesser quality field than his last three wins but, in doing so, he earned a 115 Beyer Speed Figure, by far the best so far this season and the race was the third fastest Travers in the history of the race, in a time of 2m00.84secs.

Bracket Buster led him into the straight but the further they went, the stronger Sovereignty looked.

Magnitude was expected to be competitive but he finished a further 12 and a half lengths behind the second.

The 10-length margin of victory also equalled the fourth biggest in the race’s history. Only Damascus (22), General Assembly (15) and, more recently, Arrogate (13 1/2) have won by further. Bill Mott’s charge brought his season’s earnings in 2025 to $5,692,020.

Mott had been 0-for-13 runners in the Travers and was thrilled with his win. Speaking to media afterwards, he said: “It’s something I had been waiting on. I had two or three of them on my bucket list. One was the (Metropolitan Handicap) and we got that done with Cody’s Wish.

“The one that was left was the Travers. Now the only thing we have to do is try to come back and repeat.

“I mean, the Kentucky Derby was great, but I must say for me, I think the Travers is a great race to win. It’s very satisfying and gratifying for me to get that done.”

Where now? It looks like his main opposition is among the older horses and the other quality three-year-olds have the stage to themselves until the Breeders’ Cup in November, as the trainer doesn’t intend to run his colt until then.

Personal Ensign Stakes (Grade 1)

THE other star racehorse on the Saratoga card was the reigning Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna who emerged victorious by the smallest margin after a battle up the straight to just get the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes on the nod from Dorth Vader.

There was no doubt about her resolution but the feeling persists that she is not quite at the level she was last season, although Dorth Vader is a Grade 1 winner at Saratoga this summer in the Ogden Phipps Stakes and might have been sent off too long odds after a defeat last time.

Thorpedo Anna broke well and sat in a stalking position in the nine-furlong race from her outside stall. She pulled jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. to the lead as they entered the far turn. From that point, rider had to keep aware of the threat Dorth Vader posed as she attacked all the way up the straight. Thorpedo Anna always looked to be holding her, but it was on the head-bob at the line. Leslie’s Rose was over nine lengths back in third. Despite the narrow win, the winner still ran a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Jockey Brian Hernandez said afterwards: “She showed what a true champion she was. In these Grade 1 races, these horses keep taking shots at you, and you have to respect them all.”

“She has times when she wins easily, but when she wins in a fistfight, it’s even better,” said trainer Kenny McPeek.

On suggestions of a Thorpedo Anna vs. Sovereignty match-up, McPeek responded: “For her to take him on right now, I think we’d hesitate on that right now - not that we are scared, but we are realistic.”

Thorpedo Anna could be seen next in the Grade 3 Delaware Handicap (September 28th) or the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster (October 5th at Keeneland), according to Kenny McPeek.

H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (Grade 1)

THE H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes was a Grade 1 for the shorter distanced three-year-old and it was WinStar Farms home-bred Patch Adams who won his second Grade 1 of the season for Brad Cox and Luis Saez.

He won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes by over two lengths over a muddy track on Belmont Stakes day.

The Into Mischief colt was drawn inside in the field of eight, and jockey Luis Saez used the rail to his mount’s advantage, saving ground throughout.

Captain Cook had taken over in a fast six-furlong split timed in 1m08.61secs, but Saez got a clear run-through on the rail in the straight to get the better of Captain Cook by a nose with Bob Baffert’s Barnes a length and a half back in third.

“He really put me right there, and we got lucky. We got the rail, we got through, and he fights so hard and he took us to the winner’s circle,” Saez said in his post-race on-track interview.

It was his third win in a row since he was well beaten in the Grade 3 South Tampa Bay Derby in March.

“We thought he was a big-time horse - he is a big-time horse, a dual Grade 1 winner now,” trainer Brad Cox said. “We thought he was a horse that could pick off a Derby prep. It wasn’t to be with the Southwest and the Tampa Bay Derby. We cut him back and he’s responded really well.”

Cox said Patch Adams would be aimed at either the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs or the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in November.

Forego Stakes (Grade 1)

IN the aftermath of the Grade 1 Forego Stakes over seven furlongs, the winner Book’em Danno was described as the best New Jersey-bred since Bruce Springsteen.

The Bucchero gelding took the three big graded sprints at the Spa this summer, the Grade 1 True North Stakes in June, Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes in July, and Grade 1 Forego in August. This also added to his Grade 1 win here in the Woody Stephens last season.

His one defeat came by just a neck and in hot company when fourth to Mindframe, Nysos and Banishing in the May 3rd Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs.

Jockey Paco Lopez found daylight between the pacesetters entering the straight and Book’em Danno had a short battle with Most Wanted before taking command with a furlong to run. Scotland and Crazy Mason launched late challenges, but had to settle for second and third, beaten a length and three-quarters of a length.

Book’em Danno has been the horse of a lifetime for owner Atlantic Six Racing, a group of six friends from the Jersey shore.

He earned a fees-paid entry to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, but his trainer and owners are reluctant to run. “I want him to last. I want to make the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. How we get there, I don’t know. But we’d like to make it to Keeneland,” trainer Derek Ryan said about the four-year-old gelding, now the all-time highest earning New Jersey-bred with $1,855,425 earnings.

Ballerina Stakes

The Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes for older fillies over seven furlongs had looked more open and it was the Bob Baffert-trained Quality Road filly Hope Road who emerged victorious, justifying favouritism in coming home two lengths clear of Juddmonte’s Scylla, and clear of Majestic Oops in third.

The Cicero Farms’ home-bred, of Barbara Perry and her husband, Ron, was emulating her dam, Marley’s Freedom, the 2018 Ballerina winner for the same owners.

Under Jose Otriz, she showed early speed to track the pacesetting Scylla through fast fractions to a half mile in 44.56secs. Hope Road came to the outside of her rival in the straight and put the second favourite away in the final half furlong.

Baffert was quoted on Blood-Horse: “There’s nothing better to me in racing than to win a Grade 1 at Saratoga - that is huge, especially on Travers day. That is really huge in this business. I’m so proud of that mare. She deserved a Grade 1. Jose rode her perfectly.”

The Travers crowd was 48,255 and Travers Day handle was $54,309,929, down on the Travers Day 2024 handle of $63,023,405, but that had been an increase on recent years.