Zipse: Will Baffert join the big Travers party with late arrival?

When the expected happened and Thorpedo Anna joined the prospective field, the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes took another large step forward on the anticipation scale. With the star filly joining established Grade 1 winners Dornoch and Sierra Leone plus at least one of the Pletcher-Repole pair of Fierceness and Mindframe, this year’s mid-summer derby is shaping up as a doozy.

Beside the most established names, we also should not forget about the up-and-coming horses this time of the year. Many a Travers has been won by a horse who was absent from the grind of the Triple Crown.

McPeek: Thorpedo Anna will race in Travers.

Is there a Java Gold, Arrogate or West Coast out there this year? There could be.

Unmatched Wisdom earned a recent win over the track in the Curlin Stakes to raise his record to 3-for-3 lifetime for trainer Chad Brown.

Dragoon Guard has won each of his three starts this year nicely for trainer Brad Cox and scored in the Indiana Derby (G3) in his latest.

They both look good, but the most promising of all the late-developing sophomores might reside in the familiar stable of Bob Baffert. His name is Parenting.

Unbeaten in two career starts, the son of Justify truly could be any kind. With the Travers only 27 days away, we need to see more from him in a hurry if he is to be taken seriously as a threat in the big race. The good news for his supporters is he got in a possible prep Sunday, winning by a neck as the 2-5 favorite in a one-mile allowance test at Del Mar.

Parenting originally was scheduled to make his third career start in the Haskell (G1) won last weekend by Dornoch, but a hiccup kept him from that assignment. Sunday’s race was clearly an audible, but if it was regarded as a sharp effort, it would give his Hall of Fame trainer time to swing for the fences next month in either the Travers or the $1 million Pacific Classic.

Those two Grade 1 races are the signature races of Saratoga and Del Mar, respectively. Either would be a lot to ask of such a lightly raced colt, but a win in one by Parenting would announce him as a potential 3-year-old male champion.

A week apart on the calendar, the Travers is scheduled for Aug. 24, and the Pacific Classic will be run Aug. 31. Is Parenting good enough to step up so quickly? Here is what we know so far about the bay colt.

As a son of a Triple Crown winner out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare, he has the pedigree to handle increased distance. Purchased for $750,000 as a 2-year-old in training, he obviously has demonstrated plenty of talent from early on.

His long-awaited unveiling did not come until a week before this year’s Kentucky Derby. Let go at odds of 3-1 in his debut at Santa Anita, he rolled home by nearly three lengths in a field of 11. The final time of 1:03.69 for the 5 1/2 furlongs pleased all the speed-figure gurus.

Asked immediately for more in his second career start, he returned one day after the Belmont Stakes in the Affirmed Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita. Stretching from 5 1/2 to 8 1/2 furlongs could have been a speed bump for plenty of fast colts, but for Parenting, it was easy.

Winning by 7 1/2 lengths as he was geared down late in the five-horse field, he once again ran fast. While the field for the Affirmed was far from stellar, the way he won promised bigger and better things to come.

The Haskell didn’t happen, and now he is resurfacing in an unlikely spot. Sunday’s $78,000 allowance race might seem like a step back, but it should serve as a steppingstone to something much bigger. The race even might provide more of a test than the Affirmed did.

The second choice on the morning line is 4-year-old Ultimate Gamble. The son of Medaglia d’Oro was a $1.75 million, 2-year-olds-in-training purchase who comes into this race off an impressive allowance score last month at Santa Anita.

With fireworks going off fast and furious of late among the 3-year-olds, all eyes were turned to Del Mar on Sunday afternoon to see what Parenting did.

Now Baffert must decide whether the son of Justify should be pushed forward to something big like the Pacific Classic or Pennsylvania Derby (G1). And maybe he will join what is quickly becoming an intriguing and crowded Travers Stakes party.