Maryland champ Jaxon Traveler will run in Bachelor Stakes

Jaxon Traveler, the 2020 champion Maryland-bred juvenile colt, emerged from his runner-up effort in the Gazebo Stakes at Oaklawn in good order and will point to the Bachelor on April 24 at Oaklawn followed by a run in the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico on Preakness Saturday.

Never headed in three starts at 2, Jaxon Traveler sat off a horse for the first time in the Gazebo. Although beaten by a head, his connections were pleased.

“At the three-eighths pole, I would have been happy with just being on the board,” said Terry Finley, CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds. “If anything, we knew we might be a work or two short. It should set us up well.”

Jaxon Traveler missed time at the end of last year with a bruised foot.

“We went from New York where he was in such a good rhythm and sent him to Oaklawn” said Finley. Because of winter weather, “he didn’t train for 12 days. In an unconventional way, that probably was the best thing that could have happened to us with him just tack-walking the shed row and not putting any stress on that foot.”

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Finley would love to win the Chick Lang, a race named after the legendary late director of racing, vice president, and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club.

“Chick Lang was one of my mentors early. He took a liking to me and helped me in any number of ways,” Finley said. “I’ve always wanted to see if we could get to that race.”