Exaggerator to run in Travers off one work since last win

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Exaggerator has run seven times this year, including in all three legs of the Triple Crown, so trainer Keith Desormeaux has no concerns about the 3-year-old’s fitness.

What Desormeaux has decided upon as he prepares the Preakness and Haskell Invitational winner for the $1.25 million Travers here on Aug. 27 is to try to bring a fresh horse to the 1 1/4-mile race. To that end, Desormeaux opted not to work Exaggerator on Saturday and thus will have given the colt just one breeze, presumably next Saturday, in the four weeks between his Haskell victory at Monmouth on July 31 and the Travers.

“I think I’ll take the fresh approach,” Desormeaux said Saturday morning at Saratoga. “He’s had a long campaign, plenty of racing, plenty of works, plenty of miles under him; he’s not the type that carries a bunch of weight. I think he looks awesome.”

Desormeaux arrived at Saratoga on Thursday and watched Exaggerator gallop on Friday. Exaggerator walked Saturday and was to walk again Sunday before returning to the track Monday.

“He’s going to do other types of training, just not breezing,” Desormeaux said. “We’ll do that next weekend – that’ll be enough. Light training, one breeze. That’ll do.”

Desormeaux had not been satisfied with Exaggerator’s breezes here in mid-July, which is one of the reasons he opted to run in the Haskell instead of the Jim Dandy Stakes.

Desormeaux said how Exaggerator breezes next Saturday could help determine the colt’s Travers status. He will rely on assistant trainer Julie Clark’s assessment of the work since Desormeaux will be at Del Mar this weekend.

If the decision is made to skip the Travers, there is the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 24.

“If for some reason we miss the Travers, there’s another race out there,” Desormeaux said.