Texas Red picks up sponsor for Travers

Texas Red, the Jim Dandy Stakes winner who is likely to be the second or third choice in Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, will be sponsored in the Travers by Gas Monkey Garage, a company founded by Richard Rawlings, host of the television show “Fast N’ Loud,” the brokers of the deal announced Friday.

The deal will allow the sponsors to ride the coat-tails of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, the favorite in the Travers. NBC has scheduled a two-hour broadcast surrounding the Travers on Saturday, and television ratings for American Pharoah’s appearances in the Triple Crown races and the Haskell have been relatively strong.

Texas Red and his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, will wear brands for Gas Monkey Garage, along with stable employees of the horse’s trainer, Keith Desormeaux, Kent’s brother. Texas Red is owned by a partnership that includes Erich Brehm.

“Texas Red competing in the oldest horse race in North American is an incredible opportunity,” Brehm said in a release from Equisponse, which brokers horse racing sponsorship deals.

Rawlings will also have a production crew on-site for the race, with Texas Red being featured in an upcoming episode of “Fast N’ Loud,” which appears on the Discovery channel. In addition to the show, Rawlings has used the Gas Monkey Garage brand to sell merchandise and other products.