Exaggerator, Creator to face full field in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A full field of 14 was expected to be entered Tuesday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga, bringing together two classic winners, four other graded stakes winners, and a host of late bloomers who are looking to find their place in the 3-year-old division.

Exaggerator, the Preakness winner, and Creator, the Belmont Stakes winner, are the marquee names for the 147th running of the Travers, one of six Grade 1 races on Saturday’s 13-race card. But horses like American Freedom, Arrogate, Connect and Gift Box – horses from high-profile connections who were maidens or simply maiden winners on Kentucky Derby Day – add intrigue to what appears to be a wide-open race.

The remainder of the field was expected to include Anaximandros, Destin, Forever d’Oro, Governor Malibu, Gun Runner, Laoban, Majesto, and My Man Sam. Fourteen is the maximum number of horses permitted to run in the Travers.

Exaggerator surpassed Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist for the division lead by beating him in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 31. Exaggerator, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and 11th in the Belmont, has developed a reputation as a wet-track specialist, and the long-range forecast for Travers Day is for dry conditions.

Chad Brown, who is enjoying a sensational summer at Saratoga, is running three horses in the Travers. While My Man Sam finished 11th in the Derby, Brown’s pair of Connect and Gift Box were not ready for that race.

Sidelined by an ankle chip after running third in his debut, Connect won his maiden at Belmont on May 7, Kentucky Derby Day. He added wins in an allowance and the Curlin Stakes to his résumé.

Gift Box ended his 2-year-old season with a third in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct. But he didn’t train particularly well in south Florida during the winter and didn’t make it back to the races until May 26 with a convincing allowance win. He then finished second to Connect in the Curlin.

“I have a lot of respect for this field,” Brown said. “It’s a really strong group of 3-year-olds, most of them with better résumés than my three. I think my three horses are all well suited to run a mile and a quarter. I like the fact all three had local preps over the surface here, they get to run out of their own barn – this is home for us – so all these reasons made the Travers an obvious target for us.”

Bob Baffert is sending two horses to the Travers – American Freedom and Arrogate – neither of whom was ready for the Triple Crown races. American Freedom won the Grade 3 Iowa Derby and then finished second behind Exaggerator in the Haskell.

Baffert said both horses had minor physical issues that delayed the start of their careers. In the case of Arrogate, a son of Unbridled’s Song, “he was a big, gangly-looking horse. He needed a little extra time.”

Arrogate has won three straight but will be making his stakes debut in the Travers. On Sunday at Del Mar, he worked six furlongs in 1:11.80, going a furlong farther than his workmate, Drefong, who is running in the King’s Bishop.

On Monday at Del Mar, American Freedom worked five furlongs in 59 seconds in company with Jazzy Times, another horse Baffert is shipping in for the Grade 1 King’s Bishop.

“Perfect, perfecto,” Baffert said when the work ended.

Baffert, who was shipping his horses to New York on Tuesday, sees the Travers as wide open.

“It’s going to be very competitive, a very tough race,” he said Monday from Del Mar. “I’m glad I got two really good horses to be a part of it.”

Steve Asmussen has two very good horses in Creator, the Belmont Stakes winner, and Gun Runner, the Louisiana Derby winner who finished third in the Kentucky Derby.

Creator finished last in the Jim Dandy but has had three good workouts since, including a half-mile move in 49.35 Sunday over the Oklahoma training track.

Asmussen said he was pleased with “how comfortable he is, how good he’s moving, his energy level is excellent. How sharp of a half-mile does the Belmont winner generally work? It was really nice. I like how he’s done since the Jim Dandy.”

Asmussen planned to work Gun Runner on Tuesday, feeling that working him closer to the race might benefit him.

“I think Gun Runner needs to settle early better than he did in the Haskell,” Asmussen said.

On Monday, Anaximandros, fourth in the West Virginia Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:02.96 over the Oklahoma training track in company with Applicator, who is running in the Sword Dancer. Both horses are trained by Mikhail Yanakov.

The post-position draw for the Travers was to be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern at a downtown restaurant called Druthers.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman