Travers: Early position crucial if Epicenter is to stay atop division
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There are four Grade 1 stakes winners among the eight 3-year-olds entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Epicenter is not one of them.
Still, Epicenter, with three Grade 2 stakes victories and runner-up finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, is considered the leader of a pretty wide-open 3-year-old division. He will most certainly be favored in a Travers field that includes horses that have accounted for five Grade 1 stakes wins this year – Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, Preakness winner Early Voting, two-time Grade 1 winner Cyberknife, and Blue Grass Stakes winner Zandon.
“The reality of it is we have a fabulous 3-year-old that doesn’t have a Grade 1 victory when eight other 3-year-olds do,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Epicenter for owner Ron Winchell. “I think that emphasizes what an opportunity the Travers is with the group of talent that they have in there.”
Epicenter, a son of Not This Time, was the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, and at the eighth pole looked like the winner before Rich Strike rallied along the inside to beat him by three-quarters of a length at odds of 80-1. Epicenter was favored in the Preakness, but lost position with a slow start and could never reel in the front-running Early Voting, finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind him.
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After that, the goal for Epicenter became the Travers and he prepped for that with a 1 1/2-length victory in the Jim Dandy, having to rally from last after being shut off entering the first turn by Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Tawny Port.
Asmussen knows that as the favorite, Epicenter’s presence in the race will be monitored by others.
“Watching the races this summer and the continuing trend in graded stakes, I wonder how many people are going to ride him during the race,” Asmussen, in search of his first Travers win, said. “It’s out of hand. The target’s on his back, and they seem to let them do damn near anything. It would be nice to have to be good enough, not have to overcome as well.”
Epicenter will start from post 6 in the eight-horse field. It will be incumbent on Joel Rosario to get Epicenter away from the gate cleanly and attain his position, which could potentially be on the lead. The defection of Charge It due to a foot abscess took the potential defined speed out of the race. Early Voting, lined up one stall outside of Epicenter, could be the speed if Jose Ortiz wants to use it, but the reality is his best race – the Preakness – came when he had a target.
Epicenter in the spring was the front-running winner of the Risen Star at Fair Grounds, and his versatility could come into play Saturday.
“When you say versatility, I think it’s his ability,” Asmussen said. “Racing gets down to talent and he has a tremendous amount of it.”
Cyberknife has been talented enough to win both the Arkansas Derby and Haskell, the latter beating Taiba and Jack Christopher. Taiba, the Santa Anita Derby winner, is not here in large part because his trainer, Bob Baffert, is banned from racing at New York Racing Association tracks until late January 2023. Jack Christopher, the Grade 1 Woody Stephens winner, is running in Saturday’s Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens.
Cyberknife, owned by Saratoga resident Al Gold, figures to be a forward factor from the rail under Florent Geroux.
“Going a mile and a quarter I don’t think anybody is going to get in a real big hurry,” said trainer Brad Cox, who won last year’s Travers with Essential Quality. “I’m okay with the post, he’ll break and I think he’s going to be forwardly placed. Early Voting looks like the speed.”
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Therein lies the rub. Early Voting has the speed to be on the lead, but trainer Chad Brown prefers him with a target à la the Preakness. Early Voting is coming off a disappointing last-place finish in the Jim Dandy. Brown said he was under no pressure to run in this race from owner Seth Klarman and that the way Early Voting has trained has put him here.
“I can’t keep him out of the race the way he worked,” Brown said.
Zandon, also trained by Brown, won the Grade 1 Blue Grass, was third in the Kentucky Derby, and finished second in the Jim Dandy, the latter with a trip closer to the pace than he prefers.
“We are looking to get him back like the trip he had in the Blue Grass minus the traffic,” said Brown, who trains Zandon for Jeff Drown.
Brown also sends out Artorius, who is 2 for 3 with a victory in the Curlin Stakes on July 30. He is a son of Arrogate, who exactly six years ago Saturday won the Travers by 13 1/4 lengths in a track and stakes record time of 1:59.36. Artorius is a son of Paulassilverlining, a Grade 1-winning sprinter, but Artorius gives Brown the feeling he can get 1 1/4 miles.
“I know the mother was a seven-furlong horse, but he’s got plenty of his daddy in him,” said Brown, who trains Artorius for Juddmonte Farms. “He looks like his mom, but he moves like his dad.”
Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike comes into the Travers off a sixth-place finish in the Belmont, which followed his improbable Derby win. Trainer Eric Reed believes his horse has benefited from the break, and he will be looking for more of an inside trip early under Sonny Leon, who will be making his first Saratoga appearance Saturday.
“If we find him anywhere close down the backside, unless for some reason he doesn’t run like he ran every race all year but the Belmont, I think he’ll be right there at the end of this,” said Reed, who trains Rich Strike for Richard Dawson’s RED-TR Racing.
Gilded Age, second in the Curlin and third to Early Voting in the Grade 3 Withers in February at Aqueduct, and Ain’t Life Grand, the Iowa Derby winner, complete the field.
The Travers goes as race 11 on a 13-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m. and includes four other Grade 1 stakes – the Sword Dancer, Forego, H. Allen Jerkens, and Personal Ensign – as well as the Grade 2 Ballston Spa.
The Travers will be shown on FOX during a 90-minute broadcast from 4:30-6 p.m. Eastern.
The updated forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds with high temperatures in the upper 70s.