Maximum Security a race week decision for Travers Stakes

Trainer Jason Servis had intended to ship last weekend’s Haskell Invitational (G1) winner Maximum Security from Monmouth Park to Saratoga in the days following the race.

Then he got to thinking about logistics.

“I was going to send him right up, but…he’s got his routine,” Servis said. “He’s got the same groom, same rider, he knows his surroundings.”

And in a higher-profile setting in upstate New York, the son of New Year’s Day, who rose to fame as a Florida Derby (G1) winner historically disqualified in the Kentucky Derby, was about to have a bunch of visitors.

“I was getting a lot of people coming by the barn wanting to know when he was coming,” Servis said, “and I wasn’t feeling too good about that — just people swinging by all hours of the day and night.”

“He’s doing good. He ran hard. He got knocked for a loop,” Servis said of the Haskell, which Maximum Security took by a widening 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Mucho Gusto on a sweltering evening at Monmouth.

The Gary and Mary West homebred has returned to training.

“We’re going to point to the Travers," Servis added, "and if we make it, we make it. If we don’t, we don’t. We’ll make a decision the week of the race. You can’t just make a decision now. I’ll have to see how it goes.”

Should Maximum Security skip the Travers, the Sept. 21 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) will become his next target race leading into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Matt Shifman contributed to this report.