McAfee, Bracket Buster taking their shot at Sovereignty in Travers
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – They are not coming with visions of beating Sovereignty, but hey, at least they’re coming.
The connections of McAfee and Bracket Buster said Friday that they are planning to enter their horses Sunday for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 23, where Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty looms a heavy favorite. Magnitude, the Risen Star and Iowa Derby winner, and Strategic Focus, third in the Curlin Stakes, are the other confirmed runners for what figures to be a five-horse field.
McAfee is a half-brother to Thorpedo Anna, the 2024 Horse of the Year who finished second in last year’s Travers and who is running in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 23. McAfee, a son of Cloud Computing, comes out of a second-place finish behind Chunk of Gold in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby three weeks ago.
Jake Ballis, the managing partner for Black Type Thoroughbreds, part owner of McAfee, said the colt is due to work at Churchill Downs on Sunday. Provided that goes well, he will ship to Saratoga later that day. McAfee is trained by Rick Dutrow.
“If he works well and he’s showing he’s got good energy, we’ll enter and take a shot, knowing on paper it doesn’t look promising to be first or second,” Ballis said.
John Velazquez rode McAfee to runner-up finishes in the Peter Pan and West Virginia Derby, as well as a third-place finish behind Mo Plex and Chunk of Gold in the Ohio Derby. All three of those races were run at 1 1/8 miles. The Travers is run at 1 1/4 miles.
“Johnny told me distance is not an issue with him,” Ballis said. “I think it helps our horse.”
Bracket Buster, a son of Vekoma owned by BBN Racing and trained by Vicki Oliver, was confirmed as a starter for the Travers after he worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds Friday morning at Keeneland. Braxton Lynch, the co-founder and racing manager for BBN, said a combination of the horse’s good condition and the small Travers field swayed the decision to come for the race.
“We just wanted to make sure he was doing the best that he could be doing. It appears that he is,” Lynch said. “Obviously, it’s a small field. We looked at some other options that we could have gone to. We’re unsure about the mile and quarter, as everybody is that hasn’t tried it. The horse is doing great. He’s so honest and he’s handled everything we’ve thrown at him this year, so we thought we’d take a shot.”
Sovereignty was expected to have his final breeze for the Travers on Saturday morning.
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