Travers Memories - The Best Field Ever Assembled

The anticipation for this weekend’s 146^th Travers Stakes is palpable as the racing world clamors to see the next chapter of the American Pharoah story. Saratoga Race Course will be the epicenter of the racing world on Saturday as the “Mid-Summer Derby” is part of an outstanding program which includes a whopping six Gr1 races. The anticipation is so high for this renewal that it has brought back memories of the 1987 Travers, which to me is the gold standard. This year’s renewal also has something in common with the 1987 race as this is only the second time since 1987 that the winner of all three Triple Crown races will be running in it.

The ’87 field was perhaps the most accomplished and deepest field ever assembled for this great race, and not just for what they did on the track, but also for what they did in the breeding shed. Don’t take my word for it, Bill Shoemaker said of the race that it was “the best field of 3-year-old's ever assembled”. Paul Mellon the owner/breeder of many outstanding race horses such as Mill Reef, Arts and Letters, Fort Marcy, and Sea Hero said, “I've been in racing 40 or 50 years, and I think this is probably the most competitive field I've ever seen”. It was to be the fourth Travers triumph for Java Gold`s owner-breeder, Paul Mellon, who first won it with Java Gold`s sire, Key to the Mint, in 1972. He later won it for a fifth time in 1990 with Sea Hero.

In short, that 1987 crop of three-year-old's is considered one of the best in racing history. The field in post position order:

1. Polish Navy

2. Cryptoclearance

3. Java Gold

4. Gulch

5. Fortunate Moment

6. Alysheba

7. Temperate Sil

8. Bet Twice

9. Gorky

Polish Navy was a multiple Grade I winner who prepped with a win in the Jim Dandy over Cryptoclearance, who had won the Florida Derby earlier that year, and placed in the Preakness and Belmont. Java Gold was coming back from an injury, and prepped with a win in the Whitney over older horses and his fellow classmate Gulch, who earlier in the year had won the Wood Memorial and Met Mile. Fortunate Moment was unbeaten and untested coming off of a win in the Grade I American Derby at Arlington Park. The gray West Coast invader Temperate Sil, who earlier in the year had won the Santa Anita Derby, prepped with a win in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. Last but not least, the Triple Crown stars of that year, Alysheba and Bet Twice, were both coming into the race off of their memorable Haskell battle with Lost Code. Gorky was the rabbit for Gulch, yes the same Gulch who would later in his career win a Breeders' Cup Sprint and an Eclipse Award for Sprint Champion. The only horses missing from this race were the other stars of this crop, Lost Code, Gone West, and Demons Begone. The horses entering the starting gate that day had a combined 19 Grade I wins and the only negative was the weather, as rain never let up, and the track was a sea of slop. You can view the race below:

Java Gold won the race and appeared to have the upper hand for the year end Eclipse Award after his subsequent win in the Marlboro Cup. However, a loss in the Jockey Club Gold Cup combined with Alysheba’s win in the Super Derby and nose loss in the Breeders' Cup Classic to Horse of the Year Ferdinand, swayed the voters enough to Alysheba’s corner. Conditions played a huge part in the results as Alysheba and Bet Twice were said to have hated this type of off going, while mud lovers Crytoclearance and Polish Navy both took advantage of the conditions. After the race, most of these went their separate ways with the exception of Alysheba and Bet Twice who met on the race track three more times, with Alysheba taking two of those three.

By the time the careers of all of these were over they had accumulated a staggering 36 Grade I wins, 4 Eclipse awards, and a Horse of the Year. Oh, and by the way, four of them ran in all three Triple Crown races. Polish Navy and Gulch sired Kentucky Derby winners Sea Hero and Thunder Gulch. Java Gold’s best runner was the popular Kona Gold, while Cryptoclearance sired Volponi, the upset winner of the 2002 Breeders Cup Classic. Alysheba produced several outstanding daughters but is most remembered for what he did on the track with his miraculous Kentucky Derby run where he stumbled to his knees in the stretch, and also his spectacular four-year-old season.

I could probably write a piece on a dozen different horses from that '87 class, that's how deep it was. Since this race, only the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic field has been better. The 1987 Travers and its participants will never be forgotten by this writer. I hope you enjoyed this brief trip down memory lane.