HorseCenter: Travers 2024 top picks, analysis and wagers

By Brian Zipse & Matt Shifman
Photo:

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

This week on HorseCenter, we handicap and offer suggested wagers for a blockbuster edition of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes led by Thorpedo Anna, Dornoch, Fierceness and Sierra Leone. We also provide full coverage for Saturday’s H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at Saratoga.

The $1.25 million Travers field of eight features the 3-year-olds going the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles. Top-ranked filly Thorpedo Anna will face off with Dornoch, who is the leader of the male division. Fierceness and Sierra Leone also are Grade 1 winners and have career earnings of more than $1 million each.

The $500,000 Jerkens drew a field of 11 3-year-olds who will race seven-furlongs. New Jersey-bred Book’em Danno returns to Saratoga as the horse to beat after his victories in the Woody Stephens (G1) and the Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park.

Matt has a suggested Pick 5 ticket that covers the sequence of Grade 1 races. Brian used a pair of long shots in exactas and a daily double.

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