Sovereignty can make History at the Travers Stakes

Sovereignty missed his chance at immortality in the Triple Crown, but the three-year-old thoroughbred still has an opportunity to do something never done before in horse racing.

The Travers Stakes is known as the Midsummer Derby at the Graveyard of Champions. It’s been anything but that so far for Sovereignty.

After declining a Triple Crown bid in the Preakness, Bill Mott took his prized horse to New York to dominate every single prolific race on the calendar at Saratoga Race Course. After winning the rematch with Journalism in the shortened Belmont Stakes, Sovereignty effortlessly flew past the competition in the Jim Dandy, the primary prep for tomorrow’s Travers.

If Sovereignty is victorious in the Midsummer Derby, he will become the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes, and Travers, all while giving Bill Mott his first ever win in the prestigious race.

How Favorites Have Fared in the Travers Stakes

Saratoga Race Course earned the nickname “Graveyard of Champions” because it was home to horse racing’s greatest upset. The term was coined when Upset handed Man o’War the only loss of his career at Saratoga.

Triple Crown winners are far from untouchable in the Travers. The Jim Dandy Stakes earned its name from a horse that defeated Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox at 100-1 odds. Secretariat and American Pharoah also fell in the Travers. Can it happen again?

According to Ed DeRosa, horses that are less than 1-to-2 in Grade 1 races have only won once in their last seven races. However, big favorites have often done what they’re supposed to do in this race. There have been 10 odds-on favorites in the Travers since 1994, and American Pharoah is the only one who didn’t reach the Winner’s Circle.

The Field

Sovereignty has scared away the competition. They struggled to find horses, creating just a field of five for Saratoga’s premiere race. Fox will be live from 3-6:30 PM ET, with a post time of 6:14 PM ET for the featured race.

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
5	McAfee	John Velazquez	Rick Dutrow	20-1
4	Sovereignty	Junior Alvarado	Bill Mott	2-5
3	Strategic Focus	Flavien Prat	Chad Brown	6-1
2	Bracket Buster	Luis Saez	Vickie Olver	20-1
1	Magnitude	Ben Curtis	Steve Asmussen	2-1

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