Stakes Tracker: Travers 2018 undercard among year's best
Each Tuesday, Horse Racing Nation's Stakes Tracker previews upcoming races to know with an early look at their fields.
For a third straight month, following the Belmont Stakes in June and Belmont Derby Invitational in July, the New York Racing Association has packaged one of the year's best cards leading up to a Grade 1 feature for 3-year-olds.
On Saturday at Saratoga, the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes will have the spotlight, and deservedly so with the likes of champion 2-year-old Good Magic, the filly Wonder Gadot, Belmont runner-up Gronkowski and the Belmont Derby winner Catholic Boy among contenders.
What will lead up to the Travers is pretty special, too. The main event draws Tuesday evening before the rest of the card is finalized Wednesday. Here's how five other Grade 1 events are shaping up:
$1 million Sword Dancer
The dead heat finishers of the Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap, Channel Maker and Glorious Empire, get their rematch here. But there's a new major contender to worry about. Trainer Graham Motion scratched Spring Quality from a recent start in the Arlington Million and diverted him to this spot, with the 6-year-old by Quality Road entering off a win in the Grade 1 Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard. He could go favored while Hi Happy, another recent Grade 1 winner, looks to rebound, and Sadler's Joy defends his 2017 Sword Dancer win going 1 1/2 miles.$700,000 Personal Ensign
$600,000 Forego
This is one you won't want to miss as multiple Grade 1 winner City of Light returns to sprinting. But his presence doesn't seem to be scaring anyone off. The 1-2 finishers of the Grade 2 Belmont Sprint Championship, Limousine Liberal and Whitmore, are in, while No Dozing could be a longshot to watch. He's already won a race this meet at Saratoga in optional claiming company. Warrior's Reward, the Churchill Downs Racing Club charge, is always there to pick up a check.$500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial
A number of familiar names from the Kentucky Derby trail and Triple Crown series that have showed they're best going shorter will meet here in a seven-furlong sprint. If Firenze Fire is anywhere close to what he showed in the Grade 3 Dwyer last out, he's the one to beat, as the colt relished returning to one turn. Promises Fulfilled (Grade 3 Amsterdam) and Still Having Fun (Grade 2 Woody Stephens) are the other last-out winners in this spot.$500,000 Ballerina
$400,000 Ballston Spa
A Grade 2 event on turf, but another loaded one at that, the Ballston Spa figures to run through A Raving Beauty. The Brown trainee just missed in the Grade 1 Diana last out despite serious traffic trouble when gearing up for her late run. That should make her the favorite in a field rounded out by a number of other last-out stakes placed runners.