The 2012 TRAVERS - who would have thought????

It's the home stretch week of the 2012 Saratoga meet; we've had good weather, LOTS of races to bet and saw some unique things during the past 40 days. Well, not quite 40 yet,! But with the 10+ race days the whole meet, it's seem like two months worth of racing! I know that I sound like a "broken record" but, more isn't better and the true fans of the sport would see quality instead of quantity. Never the less, NYRA got the 13 race Travers Day card done in good time last Saturday. The stakes races were of high quality and both the King's Bishop & Travers were good paying out results. Along with that, this year's Travers had a flair of history at the finish. Something if you told me the result, I wouldn't have believed you!

The "wide open" Travers field this year had the Jim Dandy winner; Alpha as it's lukewarm favorite. There was only one other horse that would have paid under a $10 mutual (Nonios 3-1) but almost half the field of 11 - (5 runners) were over 20-1 longshot "bombers". This show just how wide open of a Travers it was, much like I thought it would be. The "speed" in the race came for two of these longshots, Speightcity and Golden Ticket. The latter had very little graded stakes experience, but got the ideal trip. The same could be said for the "lukewarm" favorite; Alpha. He rarely runs a bad race and is usually on or near the lead. This was true in the off-track Jim Dandy Stakes victory and last week, he got the "garden" trip again. But, he likes to "loaf" around when he gets the lead. Some say he gets lazy and it could cost him the race. But, we all saw what was going to happen next.

Who would have thought, a longshot Nick Zito runner by the name of Fast Falcon, would be flying late and get Alpha to re-engage in the running and get his nose on the wire first. That would be TWO noses on the wire first. Because, the lightly experienced; Golden Ticket dug in deep and just missed being the outright owner of that Travers trophy and the infield canoe painted in his stable colors. It's was truly a site to see when the dead heat red bar on the tote board, came on. A Travers Stakes moment in thoroughbred history, the 1st DEAD HEAT in this race. With such a crazy three year old season, with almost all of the major winners of stake races either hurt or retired, we get this bizarre result.

As far as the three year old championship picture though, the outcome of this year's Travers Stakes most likely will not have any bearing when the voting comes around. Alpha is a nice three year old runner, but a "dead heat" doesn't move him into even one of the top five best sophomore runners of this year. Golden Ticket came into his own with his finish. But, he could become another; Afleet Express or one of the recent Kentucky Derby winners; Mine That Bird, Super Saver or Animal Kingdom and have their ONLY claim, one big grade I race victory. The "leader" and most likely champion will be I'll Have Another with his duel Triple Crown race victories. But, those by today's standards do not even put him in the same class as Smarty Jones or even Big Brown.....in my opinion.

One thing I give kudos to NYRA for doing this past Saturday for the Travers Stakes card was moving the 13 race card along at a good pace. The hour and a half earlier start was key (11:35am). Getting all those races done at a decent time (6:30) and having the Travers run in the 5:30 to 6:00 hour is how it should be done ALL the time! It's important to have thoroughbred racing televised, I know. But, the networks could try to get in the "traditional" 5 to 6 time slot for east coast racing......just saying!