Travers 2025 draw: Sovereignty leads smallest field since 1994

Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty will try to go 3-for-3 racing 1 1/4 miles Saturday when he faces only four rival 3-year-olds in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

Sovereignty drew post 4 in the field of five, the smallest group of Travers starters since Holy Bull won in 1994. The Godolphin homebred colt by Into Mischief was installed as the 2-5 morning-line favorite, and his two classics are the only Grade 1 wins in the field.

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Trained by Bill Mott, Sovereignty was a winner last out going 1 1/8 miles July 26 at Saratoga in the Jim Dandy (G2). He overtook Baeza in the stretch to win by one length. He is 2-for-3 at Saratoga with his other win coming in the 1 1/4-mile Belmont on June 7 and his lone loss being his fourth-place debut going six furlongs last August.

With $5,147,800 in career earnings, Sovereignty will be ridden as usual by Júnior Alvarado.

Magnitude (2-1) drew the rail and will try to go 3-for-3 when paired with jockey Ben Curtis. The two wins came 4 1/2 months apart in the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds in February and then the Iowa Derby last month at Prairie Meadows. He won by more than nine lengths in each race. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, the Not This Time colt is trained by Steve Asmussen, who has not won a Grade 1 race since Society scored in the Ballerina on last year’s Travers undercard. Magnitude had a maintenance breeze of a half-mile in 50.2 seconds Sunday at Saratoga.

Making only his fourth start, Strategic Focus (6-1) got post 3 for owner Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown. The colt by Gun Runner did not begin his career until this spring, when he finished first in his first two starts. He was demoted to second in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race June 6 at Saratoga. That was where he finished a close third as the 3-5 favorite in the $135,000 Curlin Stakes going 1 1/8 miles July 24. Flavien Prat has the ride in the Travers.

Listed-stakes winner Bracket Buster (20-1), who finished a distant fourth in the Haskell (G1) on July 19 at Monmouth Park, and McAfee (20-1), a debut victor who was second two weeks ago in the West Virginia Derby (G3), also are in the field for the mid-summer derby.

The Travers will be the 13th race on the Saratoga card.