Strategy forming for rail Travers 2018 runner Trigger Warning
Trigger Warning shipped in well to Saratoga and is ready to make an upset bid in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes, trainer Michael Rone said Friday morning.
Walking Trigger Warning outside of Barn 14 on Saratoga's backside, Rone said the Candy Ride colt, who drew post 1 in the 11-horse field, shipped in well from Thistledown, Ohio to the Spa. At 30-1 on the morning-line, Trigger Warning is the co-longest shot on the board alongside Meistermind.
"You have to make every step count; he drew the 1 hole, but you don't want to get in trouble and get covered up down there on the fence," Rone said. "I don't want to get covered up by the half the field, but I don't want to be left out to dry, either. But this horse has done what we've asked of him. He'll rate; he'll do anything we ask. He can go to the front or he can come from off of it."
Trigger Warning won his first stakes in the six-furlong Tom Ridge on May 21. Rone then stretched out the Kentucky-bred, owned by Brinley Enterprises, and he responded by running third in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at 1 1/8 miles on June 23 at Thistledown and second by a head to Axelrod in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby last out on July 14 at Indiana Grand Race Course, earning a personal-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure for the 1 1/16-mile race.
The Travers will mark the first time Trigger Warning has run at 1 ¼ miles. Should Trigger Warning win at odds of 30-1 or higher, he would be the highest payoff in a Travers field since the advent of pari-mutuel wagering in New York in 1940. Adonis ($53.50) in 1945 was the highest Travers payout under that format, while Jim Dandy's 1930 Travers win at 100-1 represents the Mid-Summer Derby's most stunning upset in 148 previous editions.
But Saratoga is known as the "Graveyard of Favorites" where favorites have historically struggled. Can that play into Trigger Warning's favor?
"You bet," Rone said with a laugh.
The Travers is also a milestone for Rone, a former blacksmith who won his first race as a trainer in 2006 and will now be saddling his first-ever horse at historic Saratoga Race Course.
"This is the greatest show on earth as far as I'm concerned; it's very inspirational," Rone said. "Everyone has treated us great. This is why you go into the business."