The trainers of the top contenders for Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga discussed strategy for the race in a teleconference hosted Tuesday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and moderated by publicist Jim Gluckson.
First up was Todd Pletcher, trainer of 2-year-old champion Fierceness, who’s coming off a win in the Jim Dandy (G2) and is the co-second choice at 3-1 on the morning line. The Jim Dandy was the City of Light colt’s first start since finishing 15th as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
Asked about the Jim Dandy, Pletcher said, “I thought it was a terrific win. We’re hoping to put the Kentucky Derby behind us. We contemplated running in the Belmont but felt like Fierceness was a little tired, had lost a little weight, wasn’t quite training like he normally does. So we started to freshen him up, and I think it paid dividends with a big performance in the Jim Dandy against a quality field and put the Derby experience behind us. And I love the way he’s been training since then, so hopefully he continues to move forward in the Travers.”
Pletcher said he likes having the outside post in the field of eight. “We were sixth of six in the Jim Dandy. And we’ve got a little further run to the first turn this time, so I think it gives (jockey) John Velazquez the opportunity to kind of survey what’s going on inside, see how the race is developing and unfolding. And good thing about Fierceness, he’s showing that he can go gate to wire like he did in the Florida Derby, or he can also stalk the pace like he did in the Jim Dandy and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. So I think he’s versatile enough to kind of do whatever John feels like is the right thing.”
Pletcher said he believes filly Thorpedo Anna belongs in the Travers field. “I mean, she’s been brilliant, very, very impressive in all of her performances. Last time, she even overcame a poor beginning to run away from a quality field. So she looks very impressive and appears as though she’s training every bit as well as she has been all year. So I think everyone in here certainly respects her chances and ability.”
Next up was Thorpedo Anna’s trainer, Kenny McPeek. Thorpedo Anna is 4-for-4 this year with three straight Grade 1 wins, starting with the Kentucky Oaks. She also is at 3-1 on the morning line, and she drew the inside post with regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr.
“She’s been ultra steady all spring,” McPeek said. “This is a filly that once she got settled in up here (at Saratoga), she’s done really well, and the track’s been good to her. She’s in a good routine and a good eating program, and at this point, we’re just trying to keep even keel and bring her into the race like we have some of these others prior to this.”
McPeek, who also won the Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, explained why he chose to run Thorpedo Anna in the Travers.
“She’s been so dominant over the 3-year-old fillies up to this point, it didn’t look like there was a whole lot of challenges there. I think if we had run in the Alabama, very good chance we would have won there. … I’m not overly intimidated by this group of colts. I mean, of course, winning the Derby with MystiK Dan gave me an idea on where she fit, because she worked with him on a regular basis, and she’s always given him everything he could handle and maybe more. So at this point, we’re here, and it’s a good chance to find out how good or great she could be.”
He said the inside post position is “interesting.”
“We’ll let Brian Hernandez decide how to handle that, and Brian has a great touch on her. He knows her feet, how she feels underneath him. And I think our biggest concern is that we get away clean. In her last race (the Coaching Club American Oaks), she broke a little awkward. She was anxious in the gate, didn’t stand well and then jumped a little awkward. And we can’t do that Saturday, and expect to win, irregardless. So we’ve got a plan to do a little gate schooling with her tomorrow. She’s supposed to do that around 6:30 a.m. at the Oklahoma schooling gate, and I’m in between right now, whether just to stand her or actually gallop her out. I galloped Mystik Dan out of the gate going into the Derby and his gate break Derby Day, I think, contributed to his victory. So sometimes these little things matter.”
This will be her first race at 1 1/4 miles, but McPeek said that’s not a concern. “She’s a swift galloping filly anyway. I don’t think a mile and a quarter is going to matter at all. She’ll handle that even better than the mile and an eighth. She has a huge long stride and a filly that just keeps going and going. So I think that is a test of a champion is can they handle that added distance? And I’m really confident she will.”
Danny Gargan has the morning-line favorite, Dornoch at 5-2, with regular rider Luis Saez.
“We’re going to break running, and we’ll figure out who inside us wants to break running. And I’d like for the race to set up a lot like the Belmont where we sit off a horse if we can. If someone goes crazy on the inside, we’ll just sit a half-length off of them and follow them around there. And at some point, you know, Johnny’s going have to make a decision what he’s going to do outside us (on Fierceness). But, you know, it’s going to be a really good race. There’s a lot of talented horses. I don’t think Johnny will try to make the lead from the outside. I think we’ll sit second, we’ll be on the lead or sit second.”
Dornoch won the Fountain of Youth (G2) in his 2024 debut, then was fourth in the Blue Grass (G1) and 10th in the Kentucky Derby before winning the Belmont Stakes and Haskell (G1).
“I think this winter, he really made a step forward,” Gargan said. “He won the Fountain of Youth. And then we missed a little training on the Blue Grass, and we use that as training to set up our Derby. And even going into the Derby, I really thought he’d run big, and just kind of got unlucky with the 1 post, and he got checked really hard, really fast in the race, and then was checked several other times. It’s just an unfortunate thing. There’s 20 horses, and we just brought him out of that, gave him plenty of time, waited on the Belmont and worked out for us. We got to see the real Dornoch.
“And if you throw out his Derby where he got just a really rough trip, he’s done nothing wrong his whole career. He just was a little green when he was a 2-year-old and took a little while to focus on running straight. But now that he’s getting in gear and running straight and switches leads, when he switches, he finds another gear. … Three Grade 1s in a row is really difficult to do. And only one horse has won the Belmont-Haskell-Travers. That’s Point Given, I think he’s the only horse to ever do it, and he’s in the Hall of Fame. So we’re just hoping that if we can win this race, it’d be huge for all the owners, and, most importantly, be really big for the horse, because he deserves everything he’s doing because he’s a fantastic animal.”
Chad Brown has two entries in the Travers. Sierra Leone won the Blue Grass but then was second in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Belmont and second in the Jim Dandy. Unmatched Wisdom is 3-for-3 and is making his first graded-stakes start after leading at every call in winning the listed Curlin.
Brown said Sierra Leone is “a come-from-behind horse. So hopefully a good pace will develop in front of him, and he can navigate a clean trip without getting stopped and come with his late run. And hopefully at a mile and a quarter, it’s good enough to get there in time.”
As for Unmatched Wisdom, Brown said, “We’ve always thought a lot of this horse. Unfortunately, got very sick last fall when he was getting ready to make his debut. Prior to that, I tested him out with my best horses, and he matched up quite well. So we had high expectations for him, and once we got him to the races, he’s developed quickly. But it hasn’t been a surprise because the talent was always there.”
He also will try 10 furlongs for the first time. “I feel very confident this horse can get a mile and a quarter. I’ve always thought he’s a classic-distance horse. He is lightly raced. I thought he handled the mile and and eighth well, and he also gives us the feeling he’s better with a target. He ended up on the lead in a paceless Curlin race. And we don’t believe, the jockey nor myself believe, that that is the preferred way, but he can do it if needed. He’s got early speed. If he breaks good, he’s going to go. But if someone goes just ahead of him, and he can track with a horse in front of him, I think he’ll go as far as you want to go.”
