SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With each stride that put more distance between him and his seven rivals in the stretch at Saratoga on Saturday afternoon, Epicenter put the disappointments of runner-up finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness farther in the rearview mirror with a dominant 5 1/4-length victory in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes. Taking over from the two-time Grade 1-winning Cyberknife approaching the quarter pole, Epicenter, ridden by Joel Rosario, won his first Grade 1 race while being taken in hand late. Behind him, Cyberknife, who set the pace under Florent Geroux, was all-out to hold off Zandon by a nose for second. It was a neck back to Rich Strike, the Kentucky Derby winner, in fourth. It was 4 3/4 lengths back to Gilded Age in fifth. He was followed by Artorius, Ain’t Life Grand, and Early Voting, who was eased. Epicenter improved his career record to six wins from 10 starts and added the Grade 1 Travers to a list of Grade 2 stakes victories earlier this year that included the Jim Dandy here four weeks ago and the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds during the winter. In between, he had those runner-up finishes to Rich Strike in the Kentucky Derby and Early Voting in the Preakness. :: Visit the Saratoga Handicapping Store for Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Picks, Betting Strategies and more. “I thought that answered a lot of questions,” trainer Steve Asmussen said of Epicenter’s Travers performance. “His resume looks very good and we’re willing to run against them again.” Especially if he can run the way he did Saturday. Epicenter broke alertly from post 6, but Rosario settled into fourth position as Cyberknife went to the front, pressed by Ain’t Life Grand, a 26-1 longshot under Tyler Gaffalione. Epicenter was third inside of Early Voting. Going into the far turn, Ain’t Life Grand began to fade and shortly thereafter Early Voting retreated. That left Epicenter with dead aim at Cyberknife. Rosario and Epicenter came outside of Cyberknife approaching the top of the lane, took over straightening for home and Rosario basically took him in hand late. Epicenter, a son of Not This Time owned and bred by Ron Winchell, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.72 and returned $4 as the even-money favorite. Epicenter was assigned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure. “We walked over today with a tremendous amount of confidence in the horse, but definitely remember we felt exactly the same way walking over for this year’s Derby,” said Asmussen, who won his first Travers. “He was away cleanly, thought he was comfortable and close enough to the pace and ran a very dominant performance against a very good group.” Rosario said his intent out of the gate was to be forward, but ceded the lead to Cyberknife and Ain’t Life Grand. “For one second I thought I could have kept going forward to the lead, but those couple of horses they wanted to go,” Rosario said. “I just wanted to have a good trip and be right behind them. He was more in the bridle, more wanting to go and I was just hoping he’d keep [going].” With victories in the Travers and Grade 1 Sword Dancer aboard Gufo, Rosario set a single-meet Saratoga record with 12 graded stakes wins. John Velazquez and Javier Castellano each won 11 graded stakes at one meet. Asmussen said he would feel very comfortable training Epicenter up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 5. Brad Cox, the trainer of Cyberknife, said he was content with the front-running trip Geroux gave his horse, who was coming in following an off-the-pace victory in the Haskell at Monmouth five weeks ago. “We were not going to take away anything that comes easy and I thought he was doing it easy enough,” Cox said. “We were the second-best horse today. At a mile-and-a-quarter I thought our horse really battled for second, held, and I’m very, very proud of our horse. I thought he trained well leading up and he ran a big race.” :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.   Zandon, as was the case in the Kentucky Derby, showed that 1 1/4 miles was probably just too far for him. Rich Strike, under Sonny Leon, got the inside trip trainer Eric Reed wanted. When he tipped out in the lane, he made a run, but fell a nose and a neck short of second. “I thought he ran a super race, he lost a lot of ground at the quarter pole when he came off the rail, he lost second for sure because of that,” Reed said. “He ran a great race. The best horse won. I couldn’t be happier with his effort. I’m tickled to death for him and the people know now he’s legitimate.” *** All-sources handle for Saturday’s 13-race card was a Travers Day record $55,559,315, eclipsing the mark of $52,129,346 set in 2019. Paid admissions was 49,672, the highest figure since 2015, when attendance was capped at - and reported as - 50,000.