Meistermind could bring 'sibling magic' to Travers 2018
A career winner of more than 8,100 races, including two in the Triple Crown and six in the Breeders' Cup, Steve Asmussen is searching for his first Grade 1 Travers Stakes victory.
In addition to the Grade 2 Jim Dandy winner Tenfold, Asmussen has a second Travers starter in WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing's Meistermind, a maiden winner over older horses going 1 ¼ miles June 30 at Churchill Downs. A half-brother to Mine That Bird, 50-1 winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby, Meistermind will be ridden by Manny Franco from post 6.
Meistermind made his Saratoga debut August 3, finishing fifth in an open 1 1/8-mile allowance, also against his elders, on a muddy, sealed main track. He has had a pair of works over the Oklahoma training track since, most recently going an easy half-mile in 50.19 seconds August 19.
"I think there will be a solid pace in the Travers, especially for a mile and a quarter run, and he gets the distance. We'll try to recreate a little sibling magic," Asmussen said. "We all were there and ... we watched it. You can see a scenario where there's a lot of pace, a lot of horses are going to try to keep their face clean in this race and I think the draw really leads to a solid pace with who's where, and he'll benefit from it.
"I do believe there's a bunch of those horses that can beat him at a mile and an eighth, but cannot beat him at a mile and a quarter -- and this race is a mile and a quarter."
Of the 11 3-year-olds set to line up in Saturday's Mid-Summer Derby, Tenfold is the only one with a win over Saratoga's main track, having taken the traditional local Travers prep, the July 28 Jim Dandy.
A win in the Travers would make Tenfold the 11th horse to complete the Jim Dandy-Travers double. The last was Alpha, who dead-heated for first with Golden Ticket in 2012.
"He's got a win over the racetrack and he's done really well since," Asmussen said. "Having a win in the prep is a positive. I thought the draw was good for him, and I expect a huge race from him on Saturday."
Tenfold and regular rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. will break from post 10 in the 1 ¼-mile Travers, with only Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy to his outside. It will be the second start for the son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Fame inductee Curlin - also trained by Asmussen - since a Triple Crown campaign that saw him run third in the Grade 1 Preakness, beaten less than a length and a neck away from second, and fifth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.
Among the horses he beat in the Preakness was Travers program favorite Good Magic, a neck behind in fourth, while he also finished ahead of Travers contender and Preakness runner-up Bravazo in the Belmont.
"I think the Preakness showed that he's not that far off of the level we want to be at," Asmussen said. "He was the longest shot on the board in the Preakness [at 26-1] and I was surprised by that. He was beaten three-quarters [of a length]. He's a lightly raced horse and if he gets beat, everybody will tell you they knew it and if he wins, everybody will tell you they knew it."
Tenfold sat just off the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy, took a short lead into the stretch and was in command through the lane despite drifting and bearing out in the final eighth of a mile to win by three-quarters of a length over Flameaway. Travers contender Vino Rosso was another head back in third.
"It was extremely concerning with whatever he looked at. We've had him over there several mornings since and he hasn't seen anything," Asmussen said. "Through discussions with Ricardo we thought he picked up the photographers in the infield. That's not something we can recreate and that's not something that will be there in the morning for him. Hopefully that has nothing to do with the outcome on Saturday.
"If anything, he laid in a little bit in the Preakness. I thought he was a little tired late and laid in, but he's never done anything like that any other time," he added. "I'm pretty sure the company will keep him busy in the Travers."