Travers 2016 entrants Creator and Gun Runner flying under the radar

All was quiet in the barn of newly minted Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen on Friday morning as assistant trainer Scott Blasi put the finishing touches on Belmont Stakes winner Creator and Gun Runner, who will leave from post positions 12 and 13, respectively, in the Grade 1 Travers.

"I've done my job," said Blasi. "Like always, the riders will have to make the right decisions. With the [13-horse] field I think everybody is taking a shot and that makes it competitive. I think the horses are pretty even throughout, numbers-wise, so you're going to have to have some luck and your best trip to win. Hopefully, everybody runs their race and comes back safe," he said.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. picked up the first-time mount on Creator for the Belmont, netting the jockey his first Triple Crown victory and the trainer his first Belmont Stakes score. Ortiz is back in the irons while Florent Geroux gets the return call on Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes winner Gun Runner.

Geroux, a native of France and a three-time Breeders' Cup winner, will compete in his first Travers. While the experience is new, Geroux and Gun Runner are old friends, having partnered in all five of the colt's 2016 starts when he earned $1,131,380 in purses.

"He has a good relationship with Gun Runner. He got familiar with him this winter and was working him and I think they click. He's made a million dollars on the horse, so something went right," said Blasi.

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Among trainer Chad Brown's trio of Travers contenders, My Man Sam at 20-1 is the longest price in the morning line, with Connect at 4-1 and Gift Box tabbed at 12-1.

Owned by Sheep Pond Partners, Newport Stables and Jay Bligh, his breeder, My Man Sam enters the "Mid-Summer Derby" following a second-place finish in a first-level allowance race against older horses on the second day of the Saratoga meet.

The 1 1/8-mile race marked his first start since finishing 11th in the Kentucky Derby. A son of Trappe Shot, who finished ninth as the favorite in the 2010 Travers, My Man Sam's best finish in a stakes was his second in the Blue Grass in April at Keeneland.

"He needed some time to get over the Kentucky Derby," Brown said Friday morning. "His energy level wasn't where we needed it to be. We gave him some time and finally felt good about running him early in the meet in that allowance race. He came up a little short in there. It was disappointing he didn't win, but he got a lot out of that race and continues to move forward off that race.

"He has really been full of himself this week," he added. "He's fit and sharp. This is the way he was acting before the Blue Grass. However, whether an effort like that will prove good enough to win the Travers remains to be seen. But I'm confident this horse is sitting on a really good race."

Brown, who earned his 1,000th career victory Wednesday at Saratoga, said tomorrow is one of the biggest days of the year for his stable. In addition to his Travers triumvirate, Brown will saddle a bevy of starters, including turf sensation Flintshire, who will be the favorite in the Grade 1 Longines Sword Dancer, and the come-backing Lady Eli, who will make her ballyhooed return to the races in the Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa.

"Tomorrow is a Breeders' Cup-level day," Brown said. "You have to have good racing luck because we will get to a point tomorrow where it will be out of our hands. Tomorrow is a day when there is so much on the line. There are no do-overs on Travers day."

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Anaximandros is a 50-1 longshot on the morning line for the Grade 1 Travers, but the morning line is of no concern to his 40-year-old owner/trainer/breeder, Mikhail Yanakov, a relative newcomer to the training ranks.

"The odds don't really matter so much since no one knows me," said Yanakov, who came to the United States two years ago from Russia.

An upset win in the "Mid-Summer Derby" could change that quickly. Should Anaximandros win at his morning-line odds (or greater), he could leave his legacy alongside that of Jim Dandy, who won the 1930 Travers at odds of 100-1.

But Yanakov, who is from Stavropol, Russia and is of Greek descent, said he isn't worried so much about history as he was of finding a suitable distance for the 3-year-old bay colt, who, by is named after pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Anaximander. (Little remains of Anaximander's work, although Plutarch mentions Anaximander's theory that humans were born inside fish, feeding like sharks, and that when they could defend themselves, they were thrown ashore to live on dry land).

After breaking his maiden at 1 1/16 miles on May 20 at Gulfstream Park, Anaximandros will be stretched out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time.

"I can't find any other mile-and-a-quarter races in this country," he said. "This is the last chance, and I want to see him in the mile and a quarter."

Anaximandros finished fourth in his graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby on August 6 with jockey Leonel Reyes in the irons. Reyes, who is in his first year riding in the United States. after a successful career in Venezuela, will have the call again on Anaximandros as well as Applicator in the Grade 1, $1 million Longines Sword Dancer.

"I don't want to change anything because he knows the horses," Yanakov said. "I think with a bit of luck we can surprise people. Why not?"

Yanakov, who owns all of the horses he trains through Olympia Star, Inc., said he was happy with post position 6 for the Travers.

"He's lucky with number [post] 3 but 6 is close," Yanakov said with a laugh. "Hopefully it'll be lucky for us."

Yanakov worked for his family's construction business in Russia before starting his training career. He also said he participated in competitive motorsports, though his family, which includes a wife and two children, was happy when he transitioned full-time into a new career. He first started buying horses in 2009 to take to Russia and currently has 30 broodmares and 15 horses in training based at his Gulfstream Park headquarters.

"I drove sport bikes and sport cars in racetracks, and my family said 'he's finished with motorcycles, let's go with horses. It's OK.' They didn't think I'd go so deep," he said.

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They came from all over the grounds Friday morning to an open, grassy area with picnic tables under tall trees next to Clare Court for trainer Eric Guillot's pre-Travers gumbo party.

Guillot, from Iberia, Louisiana will run Grade 2 Jim Dandy winner Laoban on Saturday in the "Mid-Summer Derby".

Guillot, who races on the southern California circuit and summers in Saratoga, started the tradition at Saratoga the day before his fleet gelding Moreno got beaten a nose by Will Take Charge in the 2013 Travers. According to Guillot's brother, Chip, the gumbo chef, they've been cooking before big races for 15 years when they started throwing parties for Hill 'n Dale Farm at Keeneland.

"We call it a 'tout quelque chose' - a little bit of everything," Chip Guillot said. "The list of what's in there is so long, it would take me all day to tell you. And, furthermore, I don't remember."

Chip Guillot oversees the Kentucky farm owned by his brother and Laoban's owner, Mike Moreno, the two partners in Southern Equine Stables.

Asked if serving up gumbo to anyone who drops by will help Laoban, who is 15-1 in the Travers, Chip Guillot said, "Of course it does. We'll give him a five-gallon bucket of it, too, before the race."

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After his victory by a nose in a maiden race May 29 at Belmont Park, Charles Fipke's Forever d'Oro turned around 13 days later and contested the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. The 1 ½-mile "Test of the Champion" proved too much, too soon and the son of Medaglia d'Oro out of the Kentucky Oaks-winning mare Lemons Forever finished last.

Trainer Dallas Stewart, however, had a plan, and he took Forever d'Oro home and got him ready for Saratoga with an eye on the Travers.

"I took him back to Churchill and put some weight on him," Stewart said. "He lost a lot of weight out of [the Belmont]. He didn't leave training. I double-timed him on all the supplements and all of the grazing and all of the grain, and he's really a good eater. That's one good thing; if you've got a horse that needs weight, most of the time those horses won't eat well. But he ate good and we poured it to him. I put about 150 pounds on him, and he looks good."

Proof that a little home cooking helped Forever d'Oro came July 29 in the 1 1/8-mile Curlin. Although he broke last in the field of seven, Forever d'Oro raced within six lengths of the pace set by winner Connect and then, after altering course, rallied into third place, beaten four lengths.

The performance earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94.

"He's always working with good horses like [Ketel One King's Bishop entrant] Tom's Ready and we work him with his sister, Forever Unbridled [who will run in the Personal Ensign], sometimes, and he fights with them," said Stewart. "I think he's got a shot to win. He's going to love the mile and a quarter. There's plenty of speed in there, and he's going to make that one run like he does. We'll see. He could be one race away from hitting it, but he's going to be right there. This has been the target right here."

Source: NYRA Communications