For the first time since 1982, this year’s $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on Saturday features the winners of each of this spring’s Triple Crown races.
Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Always Dreaming, Preakness Stakes (G1) champ Cloud Computing and Belmont Stakes (G1) victor Tapwrit will square off in the 1 ¼ mile event known as the Mid Summer Derby.
While the Todd Pletcher trained Tapwrit is the 7-2 morning line favorite, West Coast is getting the most early action, currently the favorite at odds of 7-4.
West Coast is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and is coming off an impressive victory in the Los Alamitos Derby (G1), his fourth win in six career starts.
Tapwrit is currently at 11-2 in early Travers wagering and will be making his first start since winning the third jewel of the Triple Crown on June 10.
Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming faded to finish eighth in the Preakness, and after setting the early fractions in the Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga in his last outing he weakened in the stretch to finish third, beaten 5 ½ lengths by Good Samaritan.
Always Dreaming is currently listed at 9-1 in early Travers betting.
Cloud Computing won the Preakness by a head over Classic Empire and after skipping the Belmont returned in the Jim Dandy where he chased the early pace and weakened to finish fifth, beaten 5 ½ lengths. The Chad Brown trainee is currently 12-1 in early Travers betting.
Good Samaritan, the upset winner in the Jim Dandy at 8-1, is taking some early action, currently at 5-1. The Bill Mott trainee made his first start on dirt in the Jim Dandy.
Haskell Invitational (G1) winner Girvin is currently at 7-1. The Joe Sharp trainee was 13th in the Run for the Roses, but has bounced back with two solid efforts, missing in the Ohio Derby (G3) by a nose before prevailing in the Haskell by a nose over McCraken.
McCraken is listed at odds of 6-1 in early Travers betting. The Ian Wilkes trainee was eighth in the Kentucky Derby, then won the Matt Winn (G3) before coming up a nose short in the Haskell.
Giuseppe the Great was the runner up in the Jim Dandy and his current Travers odds are 25-1. Completing the Travers field are Lookin At Lee (25-1), Irap (10-1), Gunnevera (12-1) and Fayeq (22-1).
The Travers will be televised live on NBC during a 90-minute telecast that gets underway at 4:30 ET.