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Kentucky Derby winner Orb, Belmont and Jim Dandy winner Palace Malice, and Haskell winner Verrazano lead the way in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, the Mid-summer Derby at Saratoga on Saturday, August 24th. Verrazano is the 2/1 morning line favorite, followed by Palace Malice at 5/2 and Orb at 4/1. Post time for the Travers is 5:46 PM Eastern with television coverage provided by NBC.
Joining the trio of favorites in the Travers are:
- Romansh: Second to Transparent in the ungraded Curlin Stakes last time out at Saratoga.
- Golden Soul: Second in the Derby but no where near the winners in each of his last two races.
- Will Take Charge: A good second in the Jim Dandy after a trio of bad results in the Triple Crown.
- Moreno: Won the G2-Dwyer back in early July and was third in the Jim Dandy.
- War Dancer: Won the G2-Virginia Derby on the lawn at Colonial Downs back on July 13th but has never won on dirt. The connections might be hoping for some rain this weekend.
- Transparent: Winner of the aforementioned Curlin Stakes and sixth in the G3-Gotham way back in early March.
The Travers under card features the Test, Ballston Spa and King's Bishop stakes events, with the King's Bishop drawing an jam-packed field of 14 three-year-olds for the seven furlong journey.
Below are the entries and post positions for Saturday's Travers.
PP | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | ML |
1 | Romansh | J. Castellano | T. Albertrani | 12/1 |
2 | Orb | J. Rosario | S. McGaughey | 4/1 |
3 | Verrazano | J. Velazquez | T. Pletcher | 2/1 |
4 | Golden Soul | R. Albarado | D. Stewart | 20/1 |
5 | Will Take Charge | L. Saez | D.W. Lukas | 10/1 |
6 | Moreno | J. Ortiz | E. Guillot | 12/1 |
7 | War Dancer | A. Garcia | K. McPeek | 15/1 |
8 | Palace Malice | M. Smith | T. Pletcher | 5/2 |
9 | Transparent | I. Ortiz, Jr. | K. McLaughlin | 10/1 |