Kentucky Derby & Preakness Winners Collide in Travers Stakes Showdown

It must be an open year for three-year-old thoroughbreds when neither the shock Kentucky Derby winner not Preakness Stakes scorer is favorite from eight Travers Stakes 2022 horses lining up at Saratoga. The $1,250,000 Grade I prize over 1m 2f is the main event at the meet in Upstate New York this Saturday, August 27.

What Date & Time Is The Travers Stakes 2022?

Run over 10 furlongs (a mile-and-a-quarter or 2,000m), the Grade I Travers Stakes is for three-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course with a post time of 5:44pm ET.

📅Date: Saturday August 27, 2022
🏇Racetrack: Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, New York
💰 Purse: $1,250,000
📺 TV: FOX Sports

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Oddsmakers on horse racing betting sites have Epicenter favorite despite placing behind Rich Strike and Early Voting in the first two Triple Crown races earlier in the campaign.

In a year where we’re still waiting for something to stamp their authority on the sport, let’s take a look at the eight contenders for Travers Stakes glory.

1. Cyberknife

• Trainer: Brad Cox
• Jockey: Florent Geroux
• Owners: Gold Square
• Sire: Gun Runner
• Record: 5 from 8
• Form: 2-1-6-1-1-0-1-1
• Morning Line Odds: 7-2 (+350) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Arkansas Derby, Haskell Stakes
• Post Position: 1

Representing last year’s Travers Stakes winning barn, Cyberknife has done something the favorite hasn’t. That is taste Grade I glory. After taking the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, Brad Cox’s Gun Runner colt flopped in the Kentucky Derby.

Cyberknife has since got his career back on track, however, with Grade III success at Churchill Downs and then victory at the highest level in the Haskell Stakes on July 23. He showed real stamina down the home stretch at Monmouth Park.

With the first two in the betting that day also making the show, Cyberknife beat the right horses in New Jersey. Jumping out the inside gate from post position 1 up against the fence is also an advantage.

2. Rich Strike

• Trainer: Eric Reed
• Jockey: Sonny Leon
• Owners: RED TR-Racing
• Sire: Keen Ice
• Record: 2 from 9
• Form: 0-1-3-5-3-4-3-1-6
• Morning Line Odds: 10-1 (+1000) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Kentucky Derby
• Post Position: 2

Was Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby a fluke? He has a chance to prove that theory wrong but heads to another NYRA track looking to bounce back.

Eric Reed’s star colt by 2015 Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice was never really in a position from gate 4 to get involved in the Belmont Stakes on June 11. He didn’t pick up and finished a disappointing sixth in the final Triple Crown race of the year at Belmont Park.

While Rich Strike turned about his previous clash with Epicenter in “the run for the roses”, it may have been his lucky day at Churchill Downs on May 7. Racing out the back is his style, but it only works if the pacesetters collapse on the frontend.

Morning Line odds suggest this is a tough mission for Rich Strike, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if his Kentucky Derby heroics don’t hold up in the long run as reliable form. Handicappers believe there are stronger lines.

3. Ain’t Life Grand

• Trainer: Kelly Von Hemel
• Jockey: Tyler Gaskin
• Owners: RPM Thoroughbreds
• Sire: Not This Time
• Record: 5 from 8
• Form: 1-3-1-1-4-3-1-1
• Morning Line Odds: 20-1 (+2000) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Iowa Derby
• Post Position: 3

Prairie Meadows track specialist Ain’t Life Grand gets thrown in the deep end here. Ambitious trainer Kelly Von Hemel steps his Iowa Derby winner up in class but this demands tons more.

Ain’t Life Grand shares a sire in Not This Time with Travers Stakes 2022 favourite Epicenter. Comparisons end there as he now steps onto a Grade I track for the first time in his career.

Up against proven thoroughbreds at the highest level, Ain’t Life Grand has a mountain to climb. Connections can dream of a Rich Strike-style shock, but it doesn’t look on the cards.

4. Gilded Age

• Trainer: William Mott
• Jockey: Junior Alvarado
• Owners: Grandview Equine & Don Alberto Stable
• Sire: Medaglia d’Oro
• Record: 2 from 7
• Form: 6-5-1-3-0-1-2
• Morning Line Odds: 30-1 (+3000) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: None
• Post Position: 4

Even less likely to land the Travers Stakes 2022, according to Morning Line odds, is Gilded Age. Placed at Saratoga in the Curlin Stakes behind re-opposing rival Artorius last time out on July 29, this is even tougher.

William Mott’s charge also has plenty to find with Early Voting on their Withers Stakes clash at Aqueduct back in February. Just making the show against some of the best three-year-olds in training would be a career best from Gilded Age.

There’s no real case for this outsider of eight Travers Stakes 2022 horses on known form. Expert handicappers rate Gilded Age well below the opposition, so expect this race to be too hot for him.

5. Artorius

• Trainer: Chad Brown
• Jockey: Irad Ortiz
• Owners: Juddmonte Farms
• Sire: Arrogate
• Record: 2 from 3
• Form: 2-1-1
• Morning Line Odds: 9-2 (+450) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Curlin Stakes
• Post Position: 5

The dark horse in the field, Artorius is lightly-raced and open to more progress than anything else lining up at Saratoga in this. Powerful global owners Juddmonte are prepared to be patient with their horses, knowing they improve at different rates.

Artorius, a son of 2016 Travers Stakes winner Arrogate, recorded a nice victory at this track taking the Curlin Stakes when last in action on July 29. That proved he was an above average colt.

Chad Brown now steps Artorius up into a graded race from Listed level. Sure, it’s the next logical move but there is plenty on his plate. Despite that, both oddsmakers and handicappers respect Artorius, so his Travers Stakes 2022 odds aren’t quite so under the radar.

6. Epicenter

• Trainer: Steven Asmussen
• Jockey: Joel Rosario
• Owners: Winchell Thoroughbreds
• Sire: Not This Time
• Record: 4 from 7
• Form: 1-2-1-1-2-2-1
• Morning Line Odds: 7-5 (+140) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Louisiana Derby, Jim Dandy Stakes
• Post Position: 6

After wins in two Triple Crown trials at Fair Grounds including the Louisiana Derby, Epicenter was favorite in the Kentucky Derby betting. He made the show at Churchill Downs, placing behind shock 81-1 victor Rich Strike who he takes on again here.

Epicenter also found one too good in the Preakness in Early Voting. Steven Asmussen’s Not This Time colt turned things around with that rival when returning from a break in the Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes here at Saratoga on July 30.

Expectations are Epicenter could gain further compensation for his Triple Crown defeats. He’s never been out of the first two in seven career runs. Adding the Travers Stakes to his resume would put any arguments about who the best three-year-old is beyond doubt.

7. Early Voting

• Trainer: Chad Brown
• Jockey: Jose Ortiz
• Owners: Klaravich Stables
• Sire: Gun Runner
• Record: 3 from 5
• Form: 1-1-2-1-4
• Morning Line Odds: 8-1 (+800) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Preakness Stakes
• Post Position: 7

Chad Brown has three bullets to fire at this race with the second and least favored, based on Mornling Line odds, of those being Early Voting. At first, it may seem surprising that a horse returned at 57-10 in the Preakness Stakes betting who won a Triple Crown event has such a forecast price.

Early Voting took a retrograde step with his form in the Jim Dandy here last time out, however, and that’s why he such big odds. If bouncing back to his career best Pimlico heroics in Baltimore, then the Gun Runner colt has a better chance.

What influences the thinking of oddsmakers and handicappers here is Epicenter has turned the finish in the Preakness about. Early Voting was last of four here since, so has questions to answer.

8. Zandon

• Trainer: Chad Brown
• Jockey: Flavien Prat
• Owner: Jeff Drown
• Sire: Upstart
• Record: 1 from 5
• Form: 2-3-1-3-2
• Morning Line Odds: 5-1 (+500) with BetOnline
• Notable Wins: Blue Grass Stakes
• Post Position: 8

Completing the Travers Stakes 2022 horses and scattergun approach to the race for the Brown barn is Zandon. Making the show in the Kentucky Derby after Grade I success in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland back in April, he hasn’t won another race.

Zandon, an Upstart colt, is 0-3 in as many head-to-heads with Epicenter. He couldn’t beat the favorite for this in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Ground back in February, then was behind that one again in the Kentucky Derby and the same result happened in the Jim Dandy.

That is enough opportunities for handicappers to feel confident that Epicenter has the measure of Zandon. Making the show once again is not beyond him, but that seems the best he can hope for in a race where there’s plenty of competition from within his own barn alone.

Travers Stakes Facts and Figures

• Fastest Time: 1:59.36 – Arrogate (2016)
• Most Trainer Wins: 5 – Bert Mulholland (1939, 1950, 1951, 1962, 1963)
• Most Jockey Wins: 6 – Javier Castellano (2006, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018)

Recent Travers Stakes Winners

• 2021 – ESSENTIAL QUALITY (Luis Saez, Brad Cox)
• 2020 – TIZ THE LAW (Manuel Franco, Barclay Tagg)
• 2019 – CODE OF HONOR (John Velazquez, Claude McGaughey III)
• 2018 – CATHOLIC BOY (Javier Castellano, Jonathan Thomas)
• 2017 – WEST COAST (Mike Smith, Bob Baffert)
• 2016 – ARROGATE (Mike Smith, Bob Baffert)
• 2015 – KEEN ICE (Javier Castellano, Dale Romans)
• 2014 – V.E. DAY (Javier Castellano, James Jerkens)

Watch Essential Quality Win The 2021 Travers Stakes Again

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