Travers: Little star power, lots of long shots
August 24, 2012SARATOGA SPINGS, N.Y. (AP) - Not much buzz to the buildup for the $1 million Travers Stakes, and it's no wonder since nearly every top 3-year-old has either been retired or sidelined with some sort of ailment.
Trainer Ken McPeek will send out two long shots in Atigun and Golden Ticket, and he says ``a lot of the best horses are on the shelf, and that's unfortunate.''
There may not be any superstars in the Travers, but there could be a rising star in Alpha. The colt trained by Kiaran McLaughlin is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in an 11-horse field thanks to his wire-to-wire win in the Jim Dandy at the Spa on July 28. Owned by Sheik Mohammed's Godolphin Racing, Alpha will try to match his sire Bernardini with a Jim Dandy-Travers double.