Mr Freeze may join Travers fray

Mr Freeze ran away with Saturday’s Grade 3 West Virginia Derby and might have run his way into the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 25.

Mr Freeze won the West Virginia Derby by eight lengths and earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. Though Mr Freeze was sent back to Churchill Downs, trainer Dale Romans said he might run him back in three weeks in the Travers.

“I didn’t make any plans to come up here, I thought that might be a little arrogant,” Romans said Sunday morning at Saratoga. “I know how good he is, but it very much impressed me how fast he went, how he did it. He was hooked by a good horse.”

Mr Freeze, a son of To Honor and Serve owned by Gerald Isbister and Jim Bakke, has won 3 of 4 starts with a second in the Iowa Derby.

If Mr Freeze does run, he will be joined by stablemate King Zachary, who on Sunday worked five furlongs in 1:00.35 over a muddy Saratoga main track.