The most surprising aspect of the Travers Stakes (G1) involves Bill Mott.
Twenty-seven years ago, the then-45-year-old Mott became the youngest trainer inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame.
If there were a Mount Rushmore for New York trainers, Mott would be a logical choice for inclusion.
Despite a wealth of major wins at the three New York Racing Association tracks, Mott has yet to win the Travers. He's a baffling 0-for-13 in it, with a trio of second-place finishes, mostly recently with Tacitus in 2019.
"It is one of those things. If you have a bucket list, it's a bucket list item," Mott said. "Winning the Travers would mean more to me than the horse. It's a special race to me."
Come Aug. 23 at Saratoga Race Course, one of Mott's few goose eggs could disappear when he sends out the overwhelming 2-5 favorite, dual classic winner Sovereignty, in the 156th edition of the mile-and-a-quarter, $1.25 million Travers.
"He's the best 3-year-old colt I've ever had," said Mott, who has a pair of wins in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Only four other 3-year-olds turned out to challenge Godolphin's homebred Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, with none of them grade 1 winners. But true to his nature, Mott is taking nothing for granted as he aims to keep Sovereignty on top in a heated battle for the 3-year-old championship with three-time grade 1 winner Journalism, who is staying on the West Coast.
"If he fires back to his past races, he'll be very competitive in the Travers," Mott said about the son of Into Mischief, who could become the first horse—and possibly the last—to win both the Belmont Stakes and Travers at the Spa. "I'm cautiously optimistic."
Those past starts include his most recent effort, a July 26 one-length victory over Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes third-place finisher Baeza in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at the Spa. That lifted Sovereignty's career record to five wins and two seconds from eight starts for the colt out of Crowned, a daughter of Godolphin's 2006 Travers winner Bernardini.
Though there's a field of five, on paper the Travers looms a two-horse race between the closing kick of Sovereignty and the pure speed of Winchell Thoroughbreds' Magnitude (2-1 second choice).
A Not This Time colt, the Steve Asmussen-trained Magnitude will be tested for class in the Travers in hopes of adding an exclamation point to an injury-marred stretch of two dynamic stakes wins.
After a maiden and allowance optional claiming win in five starts at 2, the $450,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale buy started 2025 with a lackluster sixth in the Jan. 18 Lecomte Stakes (G3).
A month later, he was sent off at 43-1 odds in the Risen Star Stakes (G2) and responded with a stunning 9 3/4-length gate-to-wire win in the dazzling time of 1:48.85 for 1 1/8 miles.
Bred by Ron Stolich out of the Bernardini mare Rockadelic, he immediately became the Kentucky Derby favorite in some corners, only to have bone chips knock him off the Triple Crown trail. He returned July 5 with an electrifying 9 1/4-length front-running triumph in the Iowa Derby that has his connections eager to make up for lost time.
"He missed the Kentucky Derby, so this is kind of his Derby," said David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, about the race known as the Midsummer Derby. "We've always thought he was a horse with a lot of talent, which he exhibited in the Risen Star in February and then backed up in the Iowa Derby. It just seemed like the speed figures and sheet numbers he was running put him in the mix with the top horses in the division."
As small as the field may be, Magnitude will not be the lone speed in the Travers. BBN Racing's Bracket Buster (20-1) should also be part of the early pace.
A son of Vekoma trained by Victoria Oliver, Bracket Buster led after the opening quarter-mile in the Haskell Stakes (G1) but faded to fourth in the mile-and-an-eighth test. He had won the ungraded Pegasus Stakes by seven lengths before that and was second in April in the Lexington Stakes (G3).
Klaravich Stables' Strategic Focus (6-1) will be making just his fourth career start in the Travers. Trained by Chad Brown, who is also looking for his first Travers win, the Gun Runner colt was a 3-5 favorite in the July 24 Curlin Stakes at the Spa, but tired in the final eighth and finished third by a half-length.
"He looks good, and it's obviously a tall order here. We're going to try. He looked to be winning the Curlin on the turn easy, and then he just packed it in when he made the lead. He scoped good. I'll have to think it's mental because the horse can definitely get the distance," said Brown, who will equip Strategic Focus with blinkers on Saturday.
Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Judy Hicks, and Scott Rice's McAfee (20-1) is coming off a third in the West Virginia Derby (G3), the third time he has placed in a grade 3 stakes.
The son of Cloud Computing, out of the Uncle Mo mare Sataves, making him a half brother to 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, was also second in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack. He is trained by Rick Dutrow.
Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 23, 2025, Race 13Entries: DraftKings Travers S. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Magnitude (KY) Ben Curtis 126 Steven M. Asmussen 2/1 2 2Bracket Buster (KY) Luis Saez 126 Victoria H. Oliver 20/1 3 3Strategic Focus (KY) Flavien Prat 126 Chad C. Brown 6/1 4 4Sovereignty (KY) Junior Alvarado 126 William I. Mott 2/5 5 5McAfee (KY) John R. Velazquez 126 Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. 20/1
