{"id":42758,"date":"2017-08-25T19:37:05","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T23:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=42758"},"modified":"2017-08-25T18:38:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T22:38:18","slug":"end-of-the-year-award-on-the-line-in-the-3000000-grade-i-travelers-stakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=42758","title":{"rendered":"End of the Year Award on the Line in the $3,000,000 Grade I Travelers Stakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A star-studded cast will represent the best of the 2017 Three-Year Old\u2019 Class in the $3,000,000 Grade I Travelers Stakes<\/b>.\u00a0 The race will be run over the Empire State Race Course<\/strong> at a distance of 10-Furlongs over the Dirt Course.<\/p>\n

Seven of the Fourteen participants competed in the Bluegrass Derby<\/i> 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.\u00a0 LOW FIDELITY <\/b>and IMNOTGONNACRACK<\/b> are the only two horses to have even won a race since that first Saturday in May.\u00a0 LOW FIDELITY <\/b>is leaps and bounds better than his Derby rivals in their current form. His 2nd<\/sup> place finish in the Derby was followed by an Allowance victory in New York before his 2nd<\/sup> place finish in the G1 New Yorker<\/i> in the slop.\u00a0 The son of Broken Vow <\/i>capped off his Travelers<\/b> preps with a hand-ridden victory in the G2 Shiny Gem Stakes<\/i>.\u00a0 He is clearly the horse to beat here on Saturday.\u00a0 IMNOTGONNACRACK\u2019s <\/b>road from the Derby<\/i> to the Travelers<\/b> 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<\/i> and G1 Clerk Of Scales Stakes<\/i>. Will that 6-furlong prep get this son of Tapit<\/i> back to his winning way…your cal.<\/p>\n

WORLDCLASS FUNNY <\/b>merits consideration after he followed up his Derby<\/i> with a 4th<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> place finish in the G1 Middle Jewel<\/i> and G1 Eddie Haskell<\/i> respectively.\u00a0 This son of Distorted Humor<\/i> looks like a horse sitting on a career best, but the 10-furlongs of the Bluegrass<\/i> 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.\u00a0 CARL’S SHAMELESS<\/b>, your Bluegrass Derby<\/i> winner, bounced badly in the G1 Middle Jewel<\/i>, but the son of Shamardal<\/i> appears to have regained some of that form LTO with a front running 4th<\/sup> place finish in thein the G1 Clerk Of Scales Stakes<\/i>.\u00a0 Look for him to run a career best speed figure in his return to 10-furlongs.\u00a0 Did the off track diminish the chances of SATURATION POINT <\/b>in the Derby?\u00a0 Although the son of Pioneerof The Nile<\/i> was winless in his following two starts, he was gaining ground in both the G2 Liar<\/i> and the G1 Eddie Haskell<\/i> Stakes<\/i>, and if that off track is a legitimate Derby<\/i> excuse, he could be closing fastest of all coming coming for home.\u00a0 CARIBBEAN GHOST<\/b> enters the field a freshened horse with more than three months between starts.\u00a0 Granted his runs in the Derby<\/i> and Middle Jewel<\/i> 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<\/i>.\u00a0 BOMBAATA <\/b>was given more than two months off after his strong showing in the Bluegrass<\/i>.\u00a0 He may have needed a start in the G1 Eddie Haskell Stakes<\/i> when he was out-quickened to the wire by SATURATION POINT <\/b>and VENOM RUSH<\/b>.\u00a0 With that start under his belt, don\u2019t expect this son of Malibu Moon<\/i> to get outstepped again here on Saturday.<\/p>\n

There are four horses entered in this field that missed the Derby<\/i> but competed in the G1 Clerk Of Scales<\/i> Stakes<\/i>.\u00a0 After a long hard front-end battle with CARL’S SHAMELESS<\/b>, BLAME MISCHIEF<\/b> dug in for the stretch drive to draw away from the late closing STORMY BRILLIANCE <\/b>and take home the top prize in the Ontario<\/b> feature.\u00a0 He is likely to engage in another speed duel with the Derby<\/i> winner, and he will also have to compete with the extra \u00bd-furlong for the first time in his career.\u00a0 STORMY BRILLIANCE <\/b>will reap all the benefits of an early speed duel and appears very much to be sitting on a new top.\u00a0 One to keep an eye on at 10-1. RED NOISE <\/b>turned in an even effort in the G1 Clerk Of Scales<\/i>, but you certainly can\u2019t dismiss his prior two efforts with wins in the 10-furlong Virtuoso Dirt Route and the G2 Make it Red Stakes.<\/i>\u00a0 The son of Macho Uno sits a perfect trip right off the two leaders and is proven at this distance.\u00a0 Your G1 Middle Jewel<\/i> winner, OPTICATED<\/b> made a late charge in the G1 Clerk Of Scales<\/i>, but his closing kick was compromised when the speed never came back to the field.\u00a0 The Frankel<\/i> bred colt looks like a runner that wants more ground and will get his wish here on Saturday.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL INFUSION <\/b>was a bang-up winner in the 10-furlong G2 Princess Cup<\/i> two races back, but was soundly beaten by several in this field that also raced in the G1 Eddie Haskell Stakes<\/i> last time out.\u00a0 The talented son of Curlin<\/i> has shown a propensity to bounce after a big effort as evidenced in the G2 Captain Hook,<\/i> and such might have been the case again in the Haskell<\/i>.\u00a0 Expect a better effort this time around, especially at a distance he dominated.\u00a0 PAUNCHI WHITE <\/b>hasn\u2019t raced since April when far back in the G1 2000 Guineas<\/i> over the Turf Course.\u00a0 Connections used the Turf to Dirt angle to win the Mary Wanna Smoke Dirt Juvenile<\/i> last year, but I suspect that the lightly raced son of Xtension<\/i> is going to need a start.\u00a0 Second in the G1 Sand Castle Derby<\/i>, RACE TO RELEVANCE<\/b> quickly had his Derby hopes crushed when he failed to fire in the G1 Corkscrew<\/i>.\u00a0 Things didn\u2019t improve when second in a Rez race four horse feature prompting a two-month layoff.\u00a0 The return to the races for the son of Deep Impact<\/i> saw a marked improvement in the G2 Swamps Stakes<\/i> LTO where he employed his patented late-closing kick to finish a well-purposed 5th<\/sup>.\u00a0 He is eligible to improve in his second start off the layoff.<\/p>\n

The Picks<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

LOW FIDELITY \u2013 looks best in his current form<\/b><\/p>\n

BOMBAATA \u2013 needed last; gets fast racing surface this time<\/b><\/p>\n

STORMY BRILLIANCE \u2013 gets better and better<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A star-studded cast will represent the best of the 2017 Three-Year Old\u2019 Class in the $3,000,000 Grade I Travelers Stakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":443,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42758"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42764,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42758\/revisions\/42764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}