End of the Year Award on the Line in the $3,000,000 Grade I Travelers Stakes

A star-studded cast will represent the best of the 2017 Three-Year Old’ Class in the $3,000,000 Grade I Travelers Stakes.  The race will be run over the Empire State Race Course at a distance of 10-Furlongs over the Dirt Course.

Seven of the Fourteen participants competed in the Bluegrass Derby in May and once again, the rigors of the Derby Trail reared its ugly head, leaving those that competed struggling to regain the form that got them to Kentucky.  LOW FIDELITY and IMNOTGONNACRACK are the only two horses to have even won a race since that first Saturday in May.  LOW FIDELITY is leaps and bounds better than his Derby rivals in their current form. His 2^nd place finish in the Derby was followed by an Allowance victory in New York before his 2^nd place finish in the G1 New Yorker in the slop.  The son of Broken Vow capped off his Travelers preps with a hand-ridden victory in the G2 Shiny Gem Stakes.  He is clearly the horse to beat here on Saturday.  IMNOTGONNACRACK’s road from the Derby to the Travelers is less spectacular, as his only win since the Derby was a Hot Race prep sprint LTO after he was soundly beaten in the G1 New Yorker and G1 Clerk Of Scales Stakes. Will that 6-furlong prep get this son of Tapit back to his winning way…your cal.

WORLDCLASS FUNNY merits consideration after he followed up his Derby with a 4^th and 3^rd place finish in the G1 Middle Jewel and G1 Eddie Haskell respectively.  This son of Distorted Humor looks like a horse sitting on a career best, but the 10-furlongs of the Bluegrass was his undoing and he will need to reserve some energy in the early going if he is to be a stretch factor this time around.  CARL’S SHAMELESS, your Bluegrass Derby winner, bounced badly in the G1 Middle Jewel, but the son of Shamardal appears to have regained some of that form LTO with a front running 4^th place finish in thein the G1 Clerk Of Scales Stakes.  Look for him to run a career best speed figure in his return to 10-furlongs.  Did the off track diminish the chances of SATURATION POINT in the Derby?  Although the son of Pioneerof The Nile was winless in his following two starts, he was gaining ground in both the G2 Liar and the G1 Eddie Haskell Stakes, and if that off track is a legitimate Derby excuse, he could be closing fastest of all coming coming for home.  CARIBBEAN GHOST enters the field a freshened horse with more than three months between starts.  Granted his runs in the Derby and Middle Jewel were less than what was expected, the fact is he was making up ground in each of those starts and three months older and three months fresher might make all the difference to this son of Ghostzapper.  BOMBAATA was given more than two months off after his strong showing in the Bluegrass.  He may have needed a start in the G1 Eddie Haskell Stakes when he was out-quickened to the wire by SATURATION POINT and VENOM RUSH.  With that start under his belt, don’t expect this son of Malibu Moon to get outstepped again here on Saturday.

There are four horses entered in this field that missed the Derby but competed in the G1 Clerk Of Scales Stakes.  After a long hard front-end battle with CARL’S SHAMELESS, BLAME MISCHIEF dug in for the stretch drive to draw away from the late closing STORMY BRILLIANCE and take home the top prize in the Ontario feature.  He is likely to engage in another speed duel with the Derby winner, and he will also have to compete with the extra ½-furlong for the first time in his career.  STORMY BRILLIANCE will reap all the benefits of an early speed duel and appears very much to be sitting on a new top.  One to keep an eye on at 10-1. RED NOISE turned in an even effort in the G1 Clerk Of Scales, but you certainly can’t dismiss his prior two efforts with wins in the 10-furlong Virtuoso Dirt Route and the G2 Make it Red Stakes.  The son of Macho Uno sits a perfect trip right off the two leaders and is proven at this distance.  Your G1 Middle Jewel winner, OPTICATED made a late charge in the G1 Clerk Of Scales, but his closing kick was compromised when the speed never came back to the field.  The Frankel bred colt looks like a runner that wants more ground and will get his wish here on Saturday.

SPECIAL INFUSION was a bang-up winner in the 10-furlong G2 Princess Cup two races back, but was soundly beaten by several in this field that also raced in the G1 Eddie Haskell Stakes last time out.  The talented son of Curlin has shown a propensity to bounce after a big effort as evidenced in the G2 Captain Hook, and such might have been the case again in the Haskell.  Expect a better effort this time around, especially at a distance he dominated.  PAUNCHI WHITE hasn’t raced since April when far back in the G1 2000 Guineas over the Turf Course.  Connections used the Turf to Dirt angle to win the Mary Wanna Smoke Dirt Juvenile last year, but I suspect that the lightly raced son of Xtension is going to need a start.  Second in the G1 Sand Castle Derby, RACE TO RELEVANCE quickly had his Derby hopes crushed when he failed to fire in the G1 Corkscrew.  Things didn’t improve when second in a Rez race four horse feature prompting a two-month layoff.  The return to the races for the son of Deep Impact saw a marked improvement in the G2 Swamps Stakes LTO where he employed his patented late-closing kick to finish a well-purposed 5^th.  He is eligible to improve in his second start off the layoff.

The Picks

LOW FIDELITY – looks best in his current form

BOMBAATA – needed last; gets fast racing surface this time

STORMY BRILLIANCE – gets better and better